Stargate Universal Sin Episode 8
by Lone-ranger1
Summary: The guilt of the galaxy won't let go, and the Expedition faces it's hardest moment yet. Each person faces the truth of the moment, and the decisions made here will set the final course Atlantis is heading in.
1. Chapter 1

**Episode 8 Bonded Part One**

_A/N: This is the biggest episode yet, and most likely the biggest in the entire series. If this were on TV it would have to be a special 2 hour episode. Lots of twists and turns in this one, be ready for anything.  
_

_Thanks go to Skydiver, PJOZ, and Jodz92 for their thoughts and opinions! Hope y'all enjoy this! _

----------------------------------------------

_"My Lord!"_

Todd turned and scowled. "You interrupt me at a critical moment!"

The sub-commander didn't care, the news was bad. "We are under attack! A strike force through the ring on the planet!"

Turning his head, Todd switched to the Wraith Battlenet. The fight on the planet was clearly one-sided and whoever it was they were gaining ground. Mere minutes and the force would reach the ground component of the shipyard where transports were ready to take off. "What about our Alert Darts?"

"Destroyed sir, they have Wraith Technology and will be upon the shipyard shortly."

Todd growled softly, and seeing that whoever it was had chosen the perfect moment to strike, decided to take a risk. "Have our troops enter the prototype... seal off all airlocks and dart bays. Move!"

The Sub-commander gulped, but seeing that Todd was serious, hoped that his experiment was stable enough to survive.

------------------------------------------

"Hyperspace window detected in orbit ma-am… it's Daedalus."

Sam nodded to Amelia and braced herself for whatever was to come. "Open communications."

Amelia nodded back, and quickly input the command. "Caldwell on the line."

Listening to the headset, Sam could feel John standing nearby. She didn't really need him here, but it was still nice of him. "Colonel Caldwell, good to see you again."

"_Likewise, I think you'll want to come take a look at what they've done to my ship…"_

Remembering all the different specifications Woolsey had sent them, Sam was definitely intrigued with going to see the refit craft. Nevertheless, right now she needed to know for a fact the answer to the question that had been bothering her for almost a month.

She hadn't let it affect her work, and right now there were 3 teams out on missions that she'd had to personally sign off on because the IOA was insistent that no off-world activity that wasn't necessary for base operation be conducted. It was bending the rules, but she knew the IOA wouldn't look close enough at individual team members to notice that she'd sent Ronon along with the most combat experienced Marines and Air Force personnel she had on _'Naquadah Recon Missions'_. "Colonel… Did you have any luck at Midway?"

It took a few seconds for a reply, but suddenly seeing a flash of light below, as well as some sighs of relief for those who could see into the gate room below. Caldwell's reassuring voice came in again. "_Picked up a couple hitchhikers, turns out we were going the same way."_

Sam stepped out towards the gate room and restrained herself from running. She could already hear them, and John was right behind her. "Glad to hear that Colonel, you can set Daedalus down for resupply and refueling on the west pier. Watch the Travelers though, don't wanna scratch the paint on that new ride."

Caldwell's reply was unheard as all of Sam's focus was brought to bear on the two men getting greeted by the guards in the room. "Daniel… Ronon…"

Daniel turned, his face tired and shaggy but obviously happy to see her. "Sam…"

It was a hard decision for Sam to not run over and hug the life out of him, but seeing as he wasn't running either, she simply seemed content he was alive. Ronon seemed happy as well, but more aggravated with the situation than anything else.

To everyone's surprise though, Teyla walked out from the shadows and greeted them as well. "Ronon… _Daniel…_ "

Both men seemed happy to see her as well, but in the end, it was John who said what everyone was thinking. "Welcome home guys."

----------------------------------------

"I'm not going back."

Locked in her office, Sam was very hard pressed not to shut the blinds and hug Daniel's guts out. "Back where?"

Daniel motioned towards the gate with his head and sighed. "Earth… I'm not going back."

It wasn't exactly what Sam was expecting, but she couldn't hide her smile. "Uhh… not that I'm not happy you want to stay, but for god's sake why?"

A scoff left Daniel's mouth and he clenched his jaw. "Well… to put it bluntly, I feel more at home here than I do anywhere else."

It was hard to refute that, Daniel had spent his whole life delving into cultures of all sorts, and now he had found a place that had everything he could ever want. "I see… well, how much has Colonel Caldwell told you about the IOA's new stance?"

Letting out a dejected sigh, Daniel slumped back into the chair across from Sam's desk, seeing that they were going to have a hard conversation, Sam took her position behind her desk. "Oh nothing I didn't guess in the 2 weeks I spent chatting up Ronon… No evacuation, no off-world duties… Lemme guess, the 50 marines on the new and improved Daedalus weren't requested by you?"

Sam sighed with resentment, everything seemed to be pushing in one direction and it was getting harder and harder to come to that conclusion. "No… the IOA sent them to 'protect' the expedition from potential refugee uprisings or…" Sam groaned at having to say the next part. _"… possible Traveler attack."_

Scoffing loudly, Daniel winced as he rubbed his head. "Like Larrin would want to attack… I'm honestly surprised they're still here… no evacuation and the Wraith knowing where we are means this place is going to come under siege sooner or later."

"Then why do you want to stay?"

Seeing that he'd accidentally talked a circle, and was now trapped by his own words, "Uhh well… like I said. I feel better staying here than I would running back to Earth."

Thinking hard about the plan John had told her, she was finding it harder and harder to find reasons not to agree. And seeing that Daniel was trying to hide something, Sam decided to call him out on it. "Bull... you know about John's crazy plan."

Raising his eyebrows, Daniel deadpanned. "Frankly I'm more worried that _you_ know about it."

--------------------------------------

"You _what!?"_

Ronon simply shrugged and wolfed down the next bite of his steak. "I told him."

John for that matter was incensed; he'd taken such measures to ensure the fewest number of people knew this plan, and now Ronon was spreading the word. "There's so many things I could say but I really only mean one, _Why!?"_

They were off to the side of the mess hall, everyone giving them odd glances but none daring to interrupt them. Taking another bite, Ronon deadpanned. "He likes Teyla."

Blinking a few times, it didn't exactly register with John. "Uhh… come again?"

Seeing that he'd have to elaborate, Ronon added a few words while chewing. "He likes Teyla; he's not going back to Earth."

Shocked, and even a little confused, John winced and rubbed his face. "What do you mean _'he likes Teyla'?"_

"Uhh... He likes her?" Ronon furrowed his brow in confusion... it was a simple enough statement. "He doesn't _like_ like her... it's messed up but he says she makes him feel whole again."

"_Whole again!?"_

Shrugging and downing a half his glass of water, Ronon replied matter of factly. "His words, not mine. He likes to talk."

John for that matter was a few seconds away from tearing his hair out from frustration. "Apparently so do you! How did this get to telling him the plan?"

Ronon shrugged again, and continued eating. "Teyla likes him too, He can help."

It was by far the _last_ thing he'd expected, not only that Daniel would actually _want_ to stay, but the news about Teyla… "I… Teyla... _really!? _Wow… I guess if I step back and look… yeah… I... I can _sorta_ see it." The shock over something as strange and unexpected as Daniel and Teyla… Who cared that they were planning on stealing the city and using an experimental Wormhole Drive that could potentially atomize said city? "So what'd he say?"

"He'll work with Teyla and the refugees. Not much else he can really do."

Feeling like he should defend his compatriot, John grumbled. "Well I dunno… I heard he's a decent shot for a civilian." Ronon held one hand out and made a 'Sorta' gesture. John again felt his people being slighted. "Well of course if you compare him with us…"

Ronon snorted and swallowed the bite he'd taken. "Who else would I compare him to?"

Palming his forehead, John realized that his life had been much less chaotic with Ronon stuck between galaxies.

-----------------------------------------

"So these new pods have lab and machine shop equipment?"

Caldwell nodded and motioned to the shiny new bulkheads. "At the moment we don't really have any need for them, so power has been cut and the space used for cargo. A section of each new pod has also been reinforced and turned into a spare magazine for our railgun and missile storage. Our Mark Four capacity has gone up from 64 to 96, Mark Eights are up to 20 from 10, and Mark Nines are up to 10 from 6. Add that to another 5 minutes worth of continuous railgun fire and another eight 302s and we're a battleship."

Sam was almost disturbed by how much munitions the Refit-304s carried, and she hadn't even seen the new primary weapons yet. "Wow... that's alotta firepower. What about the Asgard Beams? The report said the forward guns have been modified."

With a smile, Caldwell motioned for the Atlantis Base Commander to follow, the ship seemed much larger than it used to for Sam. She listened as Caldwell spoke. "The new forward cannons are definitely a lot different than what we're used to. Major Marks says it's like god shootin' spitballs." He chuckled, and turned back to Sam. "On our way in we noticed a few cruisers a little closer to a planet than I felt was comfortable. We gave the whole system a test run and…"

Sam raised her eyebrows, she hadn't known Caldwell to be so bloodthirsty. "And…? I'm assuming they worked quite well."

Caldwell smirked and nodded. "That would be an understatement… whole thing lasted 2 minutes."

"Wow…" Sam was impressed. "Guess I'm really in for a treat then."

The older Colonel simply nodded and continued to lead her through the ship. After a minute or two of walking past technicians, military men as well as the actual crew, they reached a new section that gave Sam goosebumps.

Caldwell noticed, and shivered himself. "Yeah you feel that? It's part of the new design for the forward guns. Felger said something about magnetic fields and tinglyness. You probably know more than I do about it."

Sam nodded and was amazed that it was actually working. "I didn't know they'd already been able to develop the magnetic coils, with the individual hardened naquadria generators, along with the new superconductive alloys that..." Seeing Caldwell give her a completely vacant expression, Sam chuckled. "Don't suppose you wanna hear how it's actually supposed to work?"

Caldwell rolled his eyes and sighed softly. "Unless you can do it using words with less than three syllables, don't bother."

Chuckling, Sam accepted the challenge. "Hmmm okay; Think of the regular Asgard beams like a Railgun, charges up, and fires in one massive burst, very powerful and very destructive, but against Ancient Shields it loses some of its bite. The science behind these new upgrades though is magnetic casing and controlled discharges." She looked to Caldwell and saw he was sorta keeping up so she continued. "Basically, instead of one massive burst, it fires a pulse that is technically weaker than the full beam, but it can fire a lot of them in a much narrower stream. Think of it like armor and shield piercing plasma shells. It won't do as much widespread damage, but it has much better penetration."

A few blinks from Caldwell, and a groan of resentment. "Do you have any idea how complicated Felger back home made that sound?"

Sam groaned in sympathy. "Well… to be honest I'm _really_ dumbing it down… not to sound offensive or anything."

Caldwell shook his head and scoffed. "Please, I can't even figure out the 7 ways I can use the toaster oven in the mess."

A wince from Sam, and the realization that science just wasn't for the action oriented people.

--------------------------------------

"Alright folks, this is the game plan. We can either wait for the Wraith and Replicators to find us and put us in a siege, a siege I might add we have little chance of winning, or we can take the fight to them."

Ronon growled softly and looked to Sam with new eyes. He'd been surprised that she let him have his own strike team, but what she was saying now was exactly what he wanted to hear. "About damn time."

To his side, Larrin clicked her tongue. "What exactly do you mean_ take the fight to them_?"

Sam turned to look at the full conference room. It had been awhile since holding a meeting with so many people and she felt oddly comforted. With John and Caldwell sitting next to her, Zelenka, Mila, Jennifer and Lorne on one end, Teyla, Daniel, Ronon and Larrin on the other, it was certainly a full house. "The fact of the matter is we need more power. Even with your advanced reactors, we still don't have enough power to run the city to the point where we could hold off a siege for any lengthy period of time. The city might be running at two-thirds power right now, but comparing the amount of Naquadah we need compared to the stored power in a ZPM for any long term commitment…"

Zelenka fixed his glasses for a moment and then spoke. "I have drawn up plans to make grid more agreeable with different power sources; Such as the Asgard Neutrino Ion reactors and Naquadria Generators."

Shaking her head, Sam sighed. "That's good Radek, but we really don't have use for either, the Neutrino Ion reactors put out a lot of power, but we don't have very much fuel for it since we can't really harvest neutrinos from a protostar easily, and even though we can make Naquadria back on Earth, we've got no facilities for it here in Atlantis."

Caldwell interrupted with his calm voice. "Actually that's not entirely true anymore. Daedalus's new lab has a miniature particle accelerator thingy that Felger says can make Naquadria. The IOA insisted to put it in there in case we're on a long term mission." He seemed apprehensive about it. "I'll admit I'm not too comfortable having it on my ship."

Sam was a little surprised, but she kept it hidden. "Well then, we can pull the accelerator out and put in here in Atlantis. We can stockpile some Naquadria just in case it comes down to it but I agree, it's too unstable to have large quantities lying around… especially if we might come under siege." Sam couldn't help but remember watching video of Kelowna's Naquadria bomb. The devastation the isotope could cause was profound.

Having been told that it was an open discussion, Teyla held her hand up politely and got everyone's attention. "Pardon, but what of the refugees? Will we be going with the IOA's recommendation and sending them to the mainland?"

Had Teyla decided to use a scornful voice, certainly everyone would have been angered. However, the tone was more one of curiosity and worry, and everyone understood. John turned to look at Sam and she nodded gently allowing him to speak. "I think I speak for everyone in this room when I say, '_Over my dead body_.'"

Despite a small scoff, Caldwell nodded as well. "Maybe not mine, but I sure as hell don't wanna kick em out."

Seeing that the leadership was unanimous, Sam smiled and nodded once. "Agreed. So that's tabled. The refugees stay. Now we move to the next issue, supplies."

Sam motioned to Lorne who blew a long sigh before speaking. "As far as food and water go, we've got enough to last 4 months without resorting to rationing. Most of it's non-perishable so any foods our teams are bringing back are being used immediately."

Adding to Lorne's analysis, Jennifer spoke with a slightly more worried tone. "We're worse off with medical supplies to be honest. We got a large shipment of medicine a few months ago, but if injuries and sickness keep going the way they are, we'll be completely out of anti-biotics in 2 months along with a lot of other things."

Again, Caldwell cleared his throat. "Actually the Daedalus has a new shipment for you. Courtesy of General O'Neill and last minute changes to the manifest."

More sighs of relief, it seemed that even though things were quite bad, they weren't as bad as they _could _be. Sam continued with her briefing despite a little twitch. "I'll… have to send him a thank you card. Now, back to power, I've come up with a plan to potentially get more power for the base in case we come under siege. It's risky, but I think in the end it'll be worth it." The entire group remained silent as they listened to Sam. "As we know, Aurora Class Battleships use a ZPM as their main power source. We contemplated trying to steal them before but since our ARG's are only effective for a short time before they adapt, we ruled it out during the raid on Asuras." Everyone was quiet. It was still a pain to hear what had happened. "But I think with the upgrades Daedalus has gotten, along with Traveler particle weapon technology, we stand a chance of disabling one of those Asuran Wolfpacks and raiding their ships for the ZPMs."

Everyone was silent; it was a hard thing to imagine. Larrin spoke up seeing that she was being referenced. "I'll have to talk to my captains… I know 3 will volunteer for sure, but I'll put it to them and see who joins up."

Sam nodded and handed a tablet across to Larrin. "That's good to know, here, that's the basic strategy Colonel Sheppard and I have planned." She handed another tablet to Caldwell who eagerly looked it over. "I want your opinions and suggestions; no casualties is best case scenario."

Caldwell coughed softly and cleared his throat. "I've got no worries about Daedalus. On our way into Pegasus we ran into some Wraith Cruisers... nothing worth mentioning with our new guns. And with our shields, even against three Auroras we can definitely bug out fast enough if things get rough." He looked to Larrin and made a somewhat apologetic face. "No offense but I'd rather not see more of your people get hurt."

Narrowing her eyes as if Caldwell had insulted her honor, Larrin tersely replied. "Your concern is heartwarming."

It was obvious Larrin didn't like Caldwell too much, and John interjected before the others could take side. "Yes! It is… in any case if you'll read beyond the first page, we're planning on upgrading your shielding anyway to mitigate the risk."

The more technically minded people in the room began to mumble to themselves. Zelenka clicked his tongue a few times and interjected. "Excuse me… but the Traveler Technology is so different from our own, that it would take a significant amount of time to modify their shield emitters."

Sam nodded and sighed softly. "I know… but against three Aurora Class battleships there's no other option. Asuras proved that we don't have the firepower to take them on strategically, so we're going to have to tactically win this fight."

A few moments of silence, and unexpectedly, Mila of all people broke it. "You want to do _what_ with my ship?"

It was by far the most unforeseen comment those seated could have thought.

--------------------------------------------

"Uhh… wow. When'd we start handing out invitations?"

Larrin was a little surprised to see so many people that she didn't realize knew about this plan of his.

"Come on, we've got a lot to talk about." John waved her onto the balcony and leaned back at the edge of the railing with Sam beside him. To their left, Ronon, Teyla and Daniel stood forming an almost semi-circle.

Larrin decided to stand alone, seeing some kind of line between the three groups. "Alright… so what's so important we've got to meet in the ass-end of the city?"

A few stifled laughs, but John quickly set it aside and nodded to her. "Well you were all there for the briefing… and we all know about the Wormhole Drive. None of us wants to send the refugees out of the city…" He looked to Larrin now with emphasis. "… and if your people decide to take off on their own, they'll get hunted down by either the Wraith or the Replicators…"

Sam nodded and kept her voice down, almost as if timid which was _very_ strange. "The upgrades we mentioned for your ships… I'm sort of bending the rules and giving you components instead of just upgrading yours. I had to convince General O'Neill to sneak them aboard Daedalus as relief supplies since the IOA doesn't want to give out any technology."

Teyla pulled slightly away from Daniel and Ronon, her obvious pregnancy putting her slightly off balance. "Then there are no extra medical supplies for Dr Keller?"

Shaking her head, Sam reassured Teyla. "No, there _are_ medical supplies, just not as much as the manifest says. The General made it look like a shipping error and some IOA bureaucrat is going to get a stern talking to once Caldwell realizes half the medical crates were filled with electronic..." Sam almost shuddered as she spoke. "…_doohickeys_ as the General put it."

A few snickers from Daniel, and he spoke up as well. "What about the refugees? I mean… us knowing is all well and good… but until we can tell them they still think they're trapped here until we either run out of supplies and they _have_ to leave, or the Wraith and/or Replicators take out the city."

John shook his head and sounded a bit bitter as he spoke. "_No…_! We can't tell _anyone _else who we can't trust to stay quiet. Not even Zelenka really knows everything we're planning. One loose mouth and the IOA'll send a battalion to enforce their idiotic orders." It was obvious John wasn't at all pleased with the latest batch of orders from the IOA. "No… the only reason _I'm_ even still here is they think I'm not willing to disobey their orders… as soon as they even catch wind of this plan, they'll drag me kicking and screaming through the gate and lock me up."

A small laugh from Sam next to him drew his attention. Larrin was nowhere near as subtle and chuckled loudly. "That I'd like to see."

Feeling thoroughly teased, John groaned softly and pushed ahead. "_Anyways…_ Caldwell thinks we're going after the ZPMs to power the city to survive a siege, but that makes a whole different problem for us anyway. We can only last 4 or 5 months here and that's if we're not attacked. Zelenka and Mila have made a lot of progress on the drive and they think they're almost ready to actually use it." John sighed, and turning to Sam he could see she was not liking where this was going. "If we do go ahead with this… Daedalus is gonna try and stop us. I know Caldwell… he's by the book and if the IOA orders him to stop us, he'll try."

Sam winced softly and looked away. She didn't say anything but it was obvious the conflict in her was severe. Ronon for his count finally spoke. "You're gonna take out Daedalus?"

Shaking his head, John looked to Larrin. "No, but I know a lot of the crew… probably all of them, are gonna follow orders. So I need you…" He pointed to Larrin gently, but his tone was confident. "…to pick a team from your people who have any combat experience inside ships apart from the crew I already asked you to prepare. Once we have the ZPM's, I want to take Daedalus with no casualties when they land, and either send it home without a chance for them to stop us, or if we have to… take it with us."

Now Sam shifted uncomfortably, talking about breaking the rules and stealing the city was already bad enough, but stealing _Daedalus?!_ She still didn't say anything, but John turned to her and gave a look that said _'we'll talk after'_ that helped to appease her… a bit.

Ronon continued, seeing as combat was his expertise. "Some of the newer marines'll follow us. Dusty, Vega, Drake…"

Shaking his hand John put his foot down. "Oh no! You're not telling anyone else till we _really_ make sure they won't talk!" He shot an apologetic glance to both Teyla and Daniel. "No offense doc… but I wasn't exactly planning on you finding out…"

Daniel shrugged and feigned hurt. "Oh that's alright… no one tells me anything important anyway. At least not until it's too late."

A few stifled laughs from the group, and John had to laugh at it himself. "Yeah well... I _am_ glad you're here Doc… You and Teyla keeping the refugees calm means a ton and don't think I don't appreciate that."

A nod was all Daniel gave back, but John could tell the man felt appreciated. There was only one more thing to talk about. "Alright… one last thing… I want you all to test the waters with our own people." He held his hand up to stop anymore arguing. "Now hold on…! I'm not saying tell them what we're planning…" John sighed and clicked his tongue. "… Just…okay, yesterday I talked to Chuck and I asked him what he'd do if he went back home… it was really relaxed and he didn't really suspect anything. He said he'd want to stay here if he could since he's been here so long and to him, it _feels_ like home."

Teyla nodded and smiled as she chuckled softly. "I can think of a few people who might say the same."

"That's good… but then again look at Banks. I asked her what she'd do and I got some long-winded answer about 4 brothers and sisters… She's not going to like the idea of leaving Earth behind." It sucked to have to sneakily test all his own people, people he trusted his life with. "That's what I want you all to do… test the waters, don't give up any information, and we'll decide as a group whether to let them know or not."

Larrin nodded, but then looked to Sam. "I like that idea… but how'd _you_ find out if you don't mind me asking? I would have thought you'd be against something like this."

Sam shifted her head about uncomfortably and looked to everyone else. "Well… I'll be honest. I'm _not_ thrilled. I only found out a week after the Wraith attacked Midway and that's because I figured it out myself…" She looked to John and could see the man recede into himself slightly. "…I… I'm still not too sure what to think…" It was an indecisive answer, but the only honest one she could give.

The others were obviously bothered by that answer, but Daniel decided to speak up for his friend. "It's okay Sam… I'm…" he looked to the others and sighed. "…I don't know what to think either… but I'm not going to say anything, and I trust Sam when she says she won't either."

Larrin and Ronon were still a little unsure, but John stepped in and immediately took his stance. "Me too... I trust Sam with my life, and so should all of us." He turned to Sam with an almost apologetic expression. "I don't think you're cold-hearted enough to stand by and let the IOA butcher all these people."

It was an unfair question, and Sam's resentful half smile and narrowed eyes told John he'd pay for asking it. "Yeah… well…"

John felt their little meeting was over, and now all that was left was to keep going. "Alright… that's all I've got for now. Any questions?" Daniel and Teyla looked to each other for a moment, and then got the group's attention with a clearing of their throats. John turned and nodded. "Yeah? What's up?"

Daniel swallowed in order to speak, it was a risky subject but it had to be said. "Well… earlier today when I was down in the refugee center… one of them approached me and gave me the address to a planet he suspected was Wraith."

Seeing the worried expression the others gave him, Teyla held up a hand to stop them from speaking. "It's not what you think! I know this man personally and can assure you he is no Wraith Worshiper in disguise… his people were long time trade partners with my own and he was one of the first refugees to arrive in Atlantis."

Somewhat appeased, the others relented. Sam nodded and took the reins back from John. "Alright… keep going Daniel. "

Taking a deep breath, Daniel flexed his neck and continued. "Yes… well he said that he'd gone there before this all started and saw a Wraith using an abandoned building along with strange looking worshipers. He got scared and left before they could see him, but it's bothered him ever since.."

Larrin scoffed softly and shook her head. "Yeah? And this affects us how?"

Daniel nodded in agreement and rubbed his hands together as he replied. "Well normally it wouldn't, but seeing as the Wraith have attacked us so many times… I would have thought you guys might want to fight back or something… but more importantly, doesn't it seem weird to you that the Wraith are using old infrastructure instead of their own?"

The thought hadn't occurred to anyone else, but Teyla nodded and added her own part. "It is true, the Wraith rarely use old infrastructure that is not their own."

Ronon and John suddenly both looked at each other remembering something very clearly. Teyla seemed to recall something as well and went a shade brighter. Ronon was the one to say it though. "That's not entirely true…"

John nodded once and said it all in one word. "Michael."

Furrowing their brows, both Daniel and Larrin questioned. "Who?"

Looking to Sam, John noted that she wasn't surprised. It wasn't a shock to him that Sam knew of the strange Wraith as she'd read all their mission reports. "Michael is… or rather _was_ a Wraith we did some… tests on."

Scoffing, Ronon muttered. "You turned him into a human… and he turned back into a Wraith."

John smiled and nodded sarcastically. "Thanks Ronon…" he looked to Larrin and then Daniel. "He's been pretty pissed off at us since, and he's been experimenting on people too. We ran into some of his… _failures…_ about a year ago."

Daniel seemed to have lost all the blood in his face, and Teyla took hold of his arm. "What is it Daniel?"

In an almost frightened voice, Daniel spoke. "Tarrus… the man I heard this from… he said he wanted to tell me because he says he saw someone wearing Expedition styled clothing there… and they were being escorted like a prisoner."

Now everyone's attention was at full, and Sam took a step forward to take her place as leader. "A prisoner?"

Daniel nodded and gulped. "A man… he couldn't see exactly who he was."

John turned to Sam with that pleading look he could have. Sam looked to him, then to Ronon, Daniel, and then back to John. "How many MIA do we have, 12?"

The Lieutenant Colonel winced and nodded. "Yeah… 12."

The entire group was silent, and the thought that someone was a prisoner of such a deviant was a difficult pill to swallow. Sam finally took a long deep breath, then bowed her head as she made the hard decision to look at Ronon. "How much do you trust the team I gave you?"

Ronon grumbled softly and nodded. "Completely."

It was unsaid, but Sam simply closed her eyes and nodded. "Go… take your team and recon the area. If you need help, we'll send reinforcements."

Without pause, Ronon nodded and motioned to Daniel. "Come on, I need that address."

Daniel nodded and looked to the others. "I'll see you later…"

The others nodded, and without a word Ronon, Daniel and Teyla moved off having finished their part here. Larrin watched them for a moment, then turned back to John and Sam. "I'm gonna talk to Mila and our engineers… see how long it'll take to install those emitters your people brought."

Larrin turned and walked away, John took a second to breathe in and lowered his head almost shamefully once Larrin was out of earshot. "I'm sorry."

Sam scoffed softly and turned away from him, they were alone on the balcony and it was time to really tell him what she had realized. "You _better be_… you have any idea what an awkward position you're putting me in?"

It was obvious that Sam was _very_ angry. John turned back towards her and leaned on the railing. "Well… I guess that depends whether you stay or go."

Shaking her head, Sam smiled scornfully at John. "Wrong. How about we do a little role play? Let's say you do succeed and you take Atlantis, Daedalus, all without casualties which I'm sorry to say is pretty unlikely... What happens to the people who don't want to go with you?"

Having thought about this before, John shrugged. "Dial Earth, send em home, or if we can ensure Daedalus goes back, put em there."

Scoffing again, Sam shook her head idly as she chuckled ruefully. "Oh? And what will the IOA do to them?"

Shrugging again, John tried to think about it. "Well… there'll be a hearing… probably try and figure out what happened…" the realization began to dawn on him, and he looked to Sam with sorrow. "…probably blame you for letting it happen…"

Nodding, Sam tersely replied. "Bingo." She sighed heavily and shook her head as she looked out to the ocean. "This is my command and if you mutiny… then it's considered my fault. I'll have an inquiry into my command abilities… at the least they'll demote me… probably kick me out of the SGC…" It was obvious Sam was feeling frustrated. "Even if they don't kick me out at the very least they won't give me another command… or even let me offworld." She turned away from John again and growled softly. "My career… my _life _would be over."

John for that matter understood. "Well… your career in the military… you could work for the private sector… still get something done."

"But not this…" Sam motioned to the city itself, and her face tensed with regret. "Maybe a few years ago I could have done it… but I've spent the last 12 years with the SGC… I don't know if I can do anything else anymore…"

"What about all these people?"

Sam turned and fiercely barked at him. "_That's not fair!_ _Goddamnit John!_ You _know_ I want to save these people! But you're asking me to either break the oath I took when I joined the Air Force and leave Earth behind… or go back and…" She just couldn't say it. The possibilities were so vague, and Sam just couldn't bring herself to say it.

A few moments of silence and John couldn't think of a way to solve it. "I could send a note… tell them I spent months trying to figure out how to beat you."

Scoffing, Sam shook her head. "Oh really? You'll stun me and toss me through the gate?"

Taking longer than was necessary, John scratched his chin. "Hmm… that _would_ cover you as far as collaborating with us."

Taking a joking swing at him, John winced as Sam's fist bounced off his arm. The fact that she wasn't smiling told him it wasn't a friendly shove. "_Don't_ even think about it…! I might not be willing to just give up on these people… but don't think I'm ready to raise the pirate flag."

Looking away from her now, feeling _really_ uncomfortable, John sighed and drummed his fingers on the railing. "I'm sorry Sam… I… I never wanted to..."

Sam interrupted and shook her head. "Don't bother…" It was rough, it was rude, and Sam hated having to make this decision. "I just want to make sure you understand that doing this is going to affect a lot of people… and not all of those people are going to be as… _understanding_ as I am."

Feeling exasperated, John became a little snippy. "Well then help me work this out!"

Just as tersely, Sam replied. "I'm _trying_! But there aren't any options!"

"Then what's the problem!?"

Furious now, Sam screamed back. "The _problem_ is there's no way out! You're forcing me to choose between _my life_ and _my morals_!"

Raising his voice, John stood his ground. "Well that's an easy choice to me!"

"_Not to me!_" Now they were only about a foot away in their screaming match. _"_I'm not _ready_ to leave everything behind! Unlike _you_ I still _have_ a life back there! _Goddammit John!_ I'm _not_ comfortable with this, but I can't see any other way and it's _killing me_!"

Seeing no way to argue that point, John held his wrath because he knew Sam was completely an innocent bystander and didn't deserve it. He'd forgive her the personal attack just this once... so John instead turned and smacked his fist into the railing. "Damnit... _Damnit Sam! _I…" He winced hard and blew a long breath to try and calm down. "I never meant to drag you into this… You gotta believe me..."

Sam stayed where she was, still staring out towards the ocean. It truly was beautiful, and to someone without the knowledge that the Replicators had already wiped 50% of the Galaxy clean of human life, the feeling of awe would be untainted by the death and futility of the moment.

It took a few seconds to calm herself, but finally Sam turned slightly to John and kept her voice low. "…_It's not your fault_… I don't blame you."

John took a deep breath, and kept his voice composed. He was _not_ going to get emotional… not at this stage. "_Yes… _it is…" Before Sam could reassure him, he held his hand up and shook his head. "_I _woke the Wraith… _I_ let Rodney talk me into reactivating the Replicator Attack Code… this is _all_ _my_ fault!"

Sam shook her head and kept her distance, a part of her wanted to put a hand on his shoulder and reassure him, the other part wanted to kick his ass. But for now, she knew they both needed solace. "You're not the one killing people… you didn't know the replicators would do this… it's _not_ your fault John."

"Ignorance isn't an excuse... How many people are dead 'cause I act before I think? Hell you just gave me shit for that 2 seconds ago!"

Thoroughly offended, Sam barely contained her rage. "_That's because you __do__!_ God sometimes I just want to _strangle_ you... you…" Sam was trembling now, unsure of what she might do if she let go of her control. Her voice was certainly raised and furious. "…_you impulsive…" _the emotion running through her veins was so strange, an odd mix of anger and… jealousy. She ended the scream with a soft relenting voice as she shook her head and faced away from him. "…_hero_."

John couldn't reply, it was such an odd way to describe him that he took a few seconds to think it over. "_Impulsive Hero?"_

Sam suddenly felt bashful and looked away as she smirked. She really did think John was a hero… someone to look up to… and it sucked to think of him as a mutineer. "Yeah… yeah… too bad you can be a _real idiot_ sometimes too." Sam chuckled softly and shook her head idly. "You're lucky you're so cute… it's hard to stay mad at you." A stifled laugh and Sam used her fist to block her smiling mouth. Her control was starting to break and she could hardly believe she just said that. Anger was _not_ conducive to her sanity.

Blushing now, John couldn't really come up with a good reply as he shifted uncomfortably. "_Cute?"_

"It's a plus, trust me." It seemed like such an odd teeter-totter to be bouncing between angry and flirty… and Sam didn't know exactly what she wanted to tell John. He made her feel passion again and not all of it was good. "Look… _I'm still pissed off_... and there's still a lot we need to work out and things we haven't considered… but there's still time so… let's just do our jobs."

Nodding softly, unsure of whether to feel teased or not, John replied softly. "Yeah… yeah I guess that's all we _can_ do right now."

Sam patted him on the shoulder and motioned with her head. "Come on… I don't want to fight anymore…"

John smiled softly and fell into step behind her. "Alright… but it's not over yet."

A rueful sigh, and Sam turned her head to him. "Not by a long shot."

--------------------------------------


	2. Chapter 2

"Uhh… why do I get the feeling that…" Ronon turned to Dusty and shot a rough glance, the planet he was on had a strong connection with him, and he figured it was the safest place to talk about this.

The strike team knew damn well this wasn't the planet they were supposed to be heading to, but none were willing to say anything to the angry looking Satedan in front of them.

Ronon took a few seconds, and then turned to face the three of them.

Each was someone he'd grown to trust in the past few months. Gunnery Sergeant 'Dusty' Mehra… a true soldier with keen perception and an iron constitution… Captain Alicia Vega, the team's sniper and pilot… a little too calm and laidback for Ronon's liking, but it made sense for her to keep a steady trigger finger… and finally Lieutenant Dan Drake, a combat engineer with great experience in close quarters combat and demolitions... among other less mentionable traits.

Each had proven their loyalty and followed Ronon's orders without question against dozens of wraith, each time coming out on top through superior tactics and strategy. Ronon had no doubt in his mind as to where their loyalties lay. "You're right Mehra… this isn't the planet we're heading to. But I wanted to talk privately… _away_ from Atlantis."

The group nodded, and could see that Ronon was being deadly serious. Captain Vega narrowed her eyes and spoke first. "What'd you wanna talk about?"

Ronon liked that Vega was so outspoken, namely because she usually asked the right questions. "Atlantis… and Earth."

"What about them?" Drake's voice was just slightly accented with his Serbian background. "If you're asking whether I'm going back, you know my answer." The lean man, much stronger than his size would indicate held all his equipment easily; All one hundred pounds of his engineering tools. Ronon knew the man would die before he retreated, Atlantis was the first place anyone had accepted him without question... much like Ronon himself.

Mehra shrugged her shoulders and clicked her tongue twice. "Well you know me, not enough bad guys to shoot in the Milky Way." The P90 in her hands was like a feather to her, and she blew a big bubble with her gum nonchalantly.

They all looked to Vega, and the Air Force Captain screwed her face as she hefted her FN SCAR-H Sniper Variant. "Hrmm… I'm not about to run if that's what you're asking."

Ronon growled softly, and then asked the hard question. "What if you had to choose? Earth… or Atlantis?" The three soldiers looked to each other, none were really prepared to answer just yet. Ronon could see the confusion in their eyes and he turned to the devastated cityscape around him. "You know where we are?" No one replied. "This is Sateda… I was born here…"

The others looked to each other again… they'd heard that Ronon's world had been destroyed, but the level of destruction was unimaginable. Mehra gulped as she looked around the area where the gate and DHD were. "The Wraith?"

A nod from Ronon confirmed it, and he turned back to them. "I brought you here so you know where I stand. I fought here for days when the Wraith attacked… I lost my home… my family… everything I loved. That was 9 years ago and now…? I might have been born here… but Atlantis is my home now… and no one is taking me away from it." He stared down at each one of them for a moment, then asked his ultimate question. "I'm asking you where your home is… and whether you can walk away from it."

A double-edged question… and the hearts of the strike team were confounded… did Ronon ask them whether Atlantis was home… or Earth?

--------------------------------------

"You sure you want to do this Teyla?"

Despite the strain of carrying the child within her, Teyla knew that doing nothing would only upset her more. "Yes Daniel… I am sure."

Daniel knew that she always allowed people to ask her that _once_. To ask her again would probably wind him up with a banto rod colonoscopy. "Good, but just in case." He handed her a stunner pistol. "I don't want to carry one either… but I've learned that nothing makes people more desperate than not knowing what's going to happen to them."

To the side, Major Lorne sighed as he nodded. "He's right Teyla… remind him to tell you about the little incident at a Naquadah mine back in the Milky Way."

Daniel winced, saw Teyla give him a curious glance, then nodded. "Uhhh let's just say the Major developed a new appreciation for cultures beyond Earth… or human for that matter."

Lorne scoffed softly and waved over two of the new marines that had come on the Daedalus. "Yeah, that and nearly blow out my knees waiting for Daniel to master interspecies negotiations."

Teyla chuckled, and put an arm around Lorne giving him a small hug. "I am glad you survived the encounter then. Daniel seems to have improved his negotiation skills, so I do not think your knees are at any risk today."

A snort came from the Major, and he replied quickly before the marines arrived. "One can only hope…" He turned to the marines and gave a quick salute that they returned smartly. "Alright… standard escort job… No live ammo and only stunners. Flash bangs if it's a crowd but I want pure non-lethal. Understood?"

The Marines seemed a bit apprehensive, but they nodded and began to gear up. Teyla made an uncomfortable noise in her throat that Daniel noticed immediately. "Yeah… I don't like it either… but I've dealt with enough situations like this to know that it's for the best… one false move and we lose control."

Teyla nodded softly, seeing the logic in what Daniel was saying. "True… but I just wish we didn't have to deliver food and medical treatment under guard."

Daniel nodded, and summed it up in one word. "Ditto."

----------------------------------

"So the system automatically scans for lifeforms within the city, but unless we use RFID tags…"

Larrin blinked and smacked Chuck on the shoulder softly. "Quit it."

Chuck flinched at the strike and turned to face off with the Traveler woman even as they sat. "Quit what?"

"_That!"_

More confused than ever, Chuck shook it from his head and repeated himself. "What's _that_?!"

Seeing that her confusion about his terminology was only leading to a comical argument, Larrin pushed forward with it. "_THAT!"_

Sergeant Chuck Campbell didn't know whether he wanted to date this woman, or kill her. How Colonel Sheppard managed to tolerate her was something of a mystery he'd have to ask about later. "_What is __that!?__"_

Larrin couldn't help herself and started to laugh, "_That_! What the hell is _Are-eff-eye-dee_?!"

Finally understanding, Chuck went wide-eyed as he stared at Larrin. "And you couldn't _just say that?"_

Leaning over, Larrin gave him a sympathetic hug with one arm further confusing the young technician. "Aww… it's okay. You can't help it. Just remember I've only known your people for a few months so I don't know jack about what you call your technology."

Feeling utterly teased, and needing to regain some degree of his manhood back, Chuck simply shuddered and got back to his field training of Larrin. "Okay… back to training…"

Larrin snickered a little more, and paid attention to the screen where Chuck was showing her everything. In the back of her mind though she couldn't help but remember what Sheppard had said about this interesting man… and how he considered Atlantis his home.

----------------------------------

Jennifer wasn't one to get angry often. In fact, her temper was almost non-existent. But when someone promises something and they don't follow through… "_What to do you mean half the shipment's not there?!"_

The poor technician standing before her flinched back somewhat, and kept his voice calm seeing the blonde fury in front of him. "I'm sorry ma-am, I know the manifest says we should have gotten more, but unfortunately all I could find was electronic equipment that Colonel Carter has already begun to distribute to the engineering staff."

A moment of calm, and then the screaming continued. "Electronic equipment? _Electronic equipment!?_ I want to know _how_ 8 crates worth of medical supplies can miraculously transform into _electronic equipment_ in between galaxies! Can you answer that!?"

The technician shrugged, hell he was just along for the ride as a gopher most of the time. "You'd have to talk to the IOA distribution center about this. It's possible they got the shipments confused and those components were supposed to go somewhere else."

Finally, someone to blame for this idioticness. "You wouldn't happen to know who that would be would you?"

Pulling up the manifest shipment receipt, the Technician pointed out the name. "There you go… He's the one who signed for the…" Before he could continued, Jennifer ripped the tablet from his hands and stormed off. Perhaps she was young, but certainly, she was a beast in the infirmary. The young technician idly wondered what _else_ she might be a beast at.

No matter, the blame was shifted, and now it was time to see if these oceans had any fish in them.

----------------------------------------

"From what I can tell, the Traveler shield technology is actually quite similar to the Asgard just using less advanced materials." John nodded mindlessly to Radek and Sam as they explained to Mila what they were going to do with the shields. The Traveler girl sat with one eyebrow raised wondering if they were going to use crazy earth words again.

Sam continued where Radek left off. "Your ships use a capacitor to store energy for the shields that's constantly charging up to a limit. If the shields take damage, it draws power from that capacitor to replenish them."

Mila nodded and smiled sarcastically. "Easier on the emitters, they last longer with a controlled amount of power going through them."

John simply remained silent, listening to the three scientifically minded people explain it all for his and Mila's benefit. Granted, he _sort_ of understood what they were talking about, but seeming ignorant could really be bliss sometimes. Besides, Sam's constant looks at his direction told him she _clearly _remembered their little conversation in DC.

With a nod and smile, Sam agreed. "That's right. But it also makes a for a little problem. Here…." She drew an X on the whiteboard. "Let's pretend this is the amount of energy the shields have at any one moment…" She then drew a Y beside it. "And this is how much power is in the capacitor."

A screw of her face, but Mila still nodded. "Okay…"

Sam drew out a simple equation that while for a grade 9 math student might seem confusing, John easily understood it. "Alright…. I don't know what kind of math you use, but basically this says that as long as the capacitor has power, the shields will be able to repel just about anything within that power limit."

Still confused, Mila shook her head. "Uhh okay, what about the emitters? I thought that's what you wanted to talk about."

Radek groaned softly, after dealing with Mila for months, he'd gotten used to her confusion, but now when she was 3 steps ahead of him because she wasn't one for following structure, it was just as annoying. "Yes yes… that is variable in equation… here…"

Using a different colored marker, Radek added a Z as well as an E to the equation. Now a Grade 11 Student would be somewhat confused. "The emitters are sort of limiter as far as shield potential. If the energy draining shields is higher than emitters physical conductivity can handle, the remaining energy passes through unobstructed."

Mila again blinked, and she screwed her face. "So _that's_ why they smell like they're burning…"

John had to struggle not to laugh as Radek muttered softly to himself in Czech and Sam winced repressing her own laughter.

-----------------------------------

"Chuck…?"

The named technician turned and nodded to Amelia. "Yo."

Amelia, taken a little by surprise by the colloquial term, screwed her face at the childish manner of speaking. "_What_?"

"Yo."

Rolling her eyes, although she noted Larrin to the side snickering at Chuck's expression (_Amelia was __convinced__ that Larrin was nowhere near the… 'physical enthusiast' some people said she was, she just used her obvious looks to control the men around her. And if those men didn't catch on, they deserved whatever they got._) and just continued with her question. "Can you double check this? I've got a strange reading and I want to be sure before I bug Colonel Carter."

Chuck got up and moved over. He looked at the readings Amelia had found and raised both his eyebrow. "What the…?"

Nodding in agreement, Amelia gave her fellow technician a shit-eating grin. "Yeah… that's what I said."

Larrin got up and furrowed her brow. "Is it a secret or should I guess?"

Unsure of whether to tell the woman or not, Amelia made the decision and tapped her headset. "Colonel Carter please report to the control room."

Feeling just slightly offended, Larrin smacked Chuck on the arm and motioned to the screen. "What is it? Sam's gonna tell me anyway."

Turning to Larrin, Chuck opened his mouth but quickly closed it. Despite the time he'd spent with this woman, he still knew his duty. "Sorry… I'm sure Colonel Carter would tell you as well but I have my chain of command."

Larrin just groaned softly as she saw Sam along with Sheppard come out from her office leaving Mila and Radek inside. "Yeah yeah… whatever…" She nodded to Sam as she walked in and spoke first. "Nice of you to join us. Maybe now I'll find out what's got these two lovebirds spooked."

Every Atlantean in the room flinched at her wording, Sam got a shocked look, the confusion on her face evident. It was Amelia though who broke the silence "_Excuse me_?!"

Having decided to get a little revenge for their mistrust of her, no matter how right it may have been, Larrin smirked to them deviously and raised her eyebrows suggestively. "Don't deny it. I see the way you look at each other."

Chuck was in a stupor. John was stifling a laugh and Sam… Sam just stood there wondering what the _hell _was going on. "Uhh… _What?!"_

Amelia looked to Sam, then to Larrin, and finally to Chuck. She was about to say many things that would probably ruin Chuck's day, but deciding that Larrin would get some _kickboxing_ lessons later, simply held up a hand and shook her head. "Okay… I'm _sooo_ not gonna get involved in this…"

Sam finally realized what Larrin had done, and she gave a sympathetic look to both her technicians. "Uhh… you called me down?"

Nodding, Amelia pointed to the screen. "I just double checked, we've lost 3 Auroras from our sensors." Lo and behold, 3 circles marked out the last known location of the Asuran Wolfpack.

Everyone in the room tensed a bit, but John was the one to ask. "What do you mean _lost?_ Were they destroyed by the Wraith?"

Chuck shook his head, but then shrugged indecisively. "Not unless they can take them all out in less than a minute. All three vanished from our sensors at the same time. Whatever took em out did it all at once."

The thought of something that could do that put chills into everyone in the room, Sam was the only one resolute enough to push forward. "Where were they last detected?"

Amelia pulled up the information, and a planet with a gate address showed up on the large plasma screen. "There… Proculus."

Both Chuck and John instantly bristled, but Sam didn't notice since she was now very curious as to what happened. "Are you reading any Wraith in that area?"

Shaking her head, Amelia replied nervously. "No Ma-am… not even close."

Larrin pushed ahead a bit and screwed her face as she looked at the galactic map. "I've never been there… I don't like the stories I've heard though. Weird stuff if you can believe it."

Sam turned to Larrin, and could see John shifting around uncomfortably. She looked to everyone around and could see both Chuck and John were disconcerted, but didn't want to speak with people around. Sam took a second to think, then nodded to John. "You know something?"

John swallowed once, and then nodded gently as he replied. "Yeah..." He motioned with his head gently to the side, Sam interpreted it correctly as he wanted to speak privately, and she turned to Larrin after a moment. "Uhh Larrin… can you stay here for a few minutes?"

A reluctant shrug, and Larrin spoke tersely. "As long as these two lovesick puppies tell me what's going on around here."

Sam winced softly, and gave both Chuck and Amelia a sympathetic look. "Uh yeah… for future reference, Larrin's to be considered a foreign military attaché… all information that isn't directly related to Earth is open to her from now on."

Both technicians nodded, and Larrin turned with a devious smile. "There we go… now I don't want to see either of you with googly eyes while I'm here."

Seeing how the likelihood of an assault and battery was about to go up, Sam quickly moved off with John and decided to delegate any responsibility to the next highest ranked officer in the room, which just so happened to be Chuck. John led Sam off to the side of the hallway where they had some semblance of privacy in a corner of it. "You know this planet?"

John nodded, and sighed softly. "It's… complicated." He could see Sam was more than willing to listen, and he gulped before he continued "3 years ago… before we regained contact with Earth… I led my team to search that planet. Turns out there's a culture there that worships… an ascended ancient."

Sam's eyebrows raised, the surprise was evident in her tone. "Ascended Ancient? As in… there's an ascended ancient on that planet?"

Nodding, John continued. "Her name is Chaya… and to make a long story short, she broke the…"_rules"_ the ascended have by saving the people on that planet from the Wraith and they punished her for saving them by only letting her protect _them_… no one else."

Remaining silent for a moment, Sam recalled reading about it during her initial Atlantis briefing. "Wait… I've heard about this… she pretends to be her own high priestess and…" She looked to John with an almost strange look. "…she came to Atlantis because of _you_." The sudden commonality of her own experience with an ascended ancient struck a chord... and it kept her silent.

John shifted uncomfortably and seemed a little bashful. "Yeah well… it was a long time ago… we wanted to send people to her planet but…"

"…She couldn't take them."

"Yeah… she hated that she couldn't but… _'The Others' _wouldn't let her."

A few moments passed uncomfortably, and Sam kept her voice barely above a whisper. "I uhh… well… the report said you went after her." Silence, but a nod confirmed it. "What happened?"

John faced away from Sam, only those who he trusted implicitly really knew… and over the past few months he'd come to trust Sam a lot more… time to be honest. "She explained the whole thing to me… by _sharing herself."_

Expecting Sam to assume and get it wrong like everyone else did… although the actual sharing did have a sexual element to it… John was quite surprised at the expression Sam gave him. A sort of shock, but with an understanding he hadn't seen before. "Wow… I uhh…" a short breath to think about how to word it, and Sam whispered. _"Wow."_

"Look… I know what it sounds like… but it's…"

Holding her hand up, Sam silenced John and spoke softly. "No no… John… I understand…" a scoff left her mouth as she recalled her own glowy encounter. "…I'm probably one of the _only_ people who understands."

John's eyes went wider as he realized what Sam was saying. "Wait… you…you mean you…" his voice caught for a moment. "_… you?"_

A short nod to confirm it, and Sam sighed softly. "Yeah… Yeah it uhh… it was a long time ago."

Neither really said anything, but both looked to each other just a little differently. Sharing with an ascended being was a very… _different_… thing and it was hard to describe it. But knowing that the other had been through the same thing… the two commanders looked at each other just a little differently. "So… I'm guessing a wolf pack showed up and Chaya… defended her people."

Sam nodded, and blew a deep sigh. "Is there any chance we can send people there? There must be some way we can work something out."

Shaking his head now, John kept his voice calm as he related it. "No… she made it pretty clear. She can't use her powers to protect anyone who isn't a part of her people…"

"Can't hurt to try." Sam wasn't going to tell John everything about Orlin… the way he'd redeemed himself in the eyes of _"The Others"_ and was free to help them so many years later… at the cost of almost everything he was.

It was an impossible argument, and John sighed as he finally nodded. "Alright… but I'm telling you she won't listen to me."

"Maybe she'll listen to _me_ then." Sam smiled, and patted John on the shoulder. "Come on… we need to talk more anyway."

John relented and followed Sam, certainly, if he didn't trust her a lot before, now it was something very different.

---------------------------------------

"_What do you see Vega?"_

Alicia focused through the scope as she listened over the radio; the people in the distance came into view. "Looks like… 2 guards, Pegasus clothing, their skin looks… weird."

Down near the building, Ronon kept his voice quiet as Dusty and Drake covered his back. "Weird as in?"

"_Pale blue… almost like a wraith but…"_

Dusty nodded softly as she attached the silencer to her P90. Drake off to the side pulled out his Sig Sauer P229 and did the same. Both knew right away that if they were going to attack, it was going to be a covert op. Ronon peeked carefully out from behind the tree he was using for cover. The two guards seemed almost familiar, but it wasn't anything that gave him pause. "Can you take out the one on the left Vega? Quietly?"

A click on the radio, a yes in military terms, Ronon looked over to Dusty and motioned with his hand to take a flanking position. Dusty nodded and ever so silently moved off and took her position. Ronon waited a few moments, then heard Dusty's acknowledgement that she was in position.

One silent nod to make sure Drake was ready, then a quick radio call. "Take the left Vega, Right's yours Dusty."

A moment later, the guard on the left suddenly convulsed as his chest was perforated by a trio of bullets center mass. The guard on the right reacted quickly, but before he could figure out what was going on, a quiet cough from Dusty's P90 took him down just as quickly.

A few seconds passed, and there was no more movement. "Vega! Cover the entrance! Dusty you're with me. Drake, get some scans of the building. Move it!"

With that, Ronon moved out from hiding and held his Traveler Particle magnum out ready to fire. In moments he rejoined Dusty who kept a low and stable stance as she moved with her P90 at the ready. Behind him, Drake pulled out a Doppler scanner as well as an Ancient Life Signs Detector. "I'm getting weird readings… like something's jamming it."

Ronon growled and looked at the doors ahead of him, whatever was inside was likely to be very dangerous… Just the way he liked it.

-------------------------------

"Just us?"

Sam nodded and tightened the strap on the Tac-Vest. "No one else free, the refugees are making alotta noise and I don't trust those Marines the IOA sent to keep em peaceful." It still pissed her off that the IOA had done such a thing before getting approval from her, but the IOA was the boss and she had to listen.

John nodded, and fit his sidearm into his holster. "P90s?"

"Standard issue." It was a sarcastic reply, she too knew that Proculus was unlikely to need firepower.

Grumbling a bit, John pulled one of the PDW's off the gunrack and handed it to Sam. Without any more words, he took one himself and attached it to the lanyard of his vest. It was obvious that John felt this mission was pointless. "Don't s'pose I can talk you outta this?"

Sam shrugged and loaded her vest with ammo and the standard issue gear. "Can't hurt to ask her."

Finally relenting, John nodded and waved her ahead. "Ladies first."

Rolling her eyes, Sam smacked him on the shoulder as she walked towards the exit of the Armory. "Please… _Flattery_ will get you nowhere."

She chuckled as John fired off a sardonic salute as he fell into line. The dozen or so witty and flirty replies he had were unsaid… but Sam could see them all in his eyes. "Yes, Ma-am!"

--------------------------------------


	3. Chapter 3

Drake screamed in rage as he slammed his would be ambusher into the wall and gave him a hard left hook to the face. Growing up in the streets of Serbia, and then Washington DC had taught him how to deal with grapplers. "C'mere_ Kurvo Jedna!_" The ferocity of the ambush sent the man into his native tongue.

The short but surprisingly strong attacker quickly moved out of the larger man's grasp, but Ronon was already there and used his bicep to slap the assailant back towards Drake in a clothesline maneuver. The Serbian-born Combat Engineer had his blade ready and shoved it hilt deep into the back of the creature and twisted, severing its spinal cord.

It gibbered a bit, but a silenced shot to the head put it out of its misery. Despite being a cold-hearted soldier, Drake wasn't cruel unless he had to be. Ronon growled softly and motioned with his head for them to keep moving. The lieutenant nodded and after wiping his blade on his thigh, sheathed it and moved forward.

The building was old, but there were plenty of newer looking electronics equipment all over the place. Dusty had moved ahead and examined the electrical equipment but kept an ear open for any movement. She looked to Ronon and Drake and nodded softly. "Wraith Tech… might wanna get a tech team here to see what's going on."

Ronon shook his head and kept his gun up ready for any contact. "Not Wraith… Michael… these things are hybrids."

Dusty gulped softly, and looked around nervously. "_Hybrids?"_

"Half Human… half Wraith… we've run into them before."

A small clatter and Drake suddenly shot a glance to the side, his sidearm up at the ready. "I heard something…"

With her P90 raised, Dusty nodded. "Me too…"

There was no question whether Ronon heard it and he moved forward quietly. Grasshopping between cover, Ronon took a moment to radio Vega outside. "Vega… sitrep!"

"_Bored."_

Snorting, Dusty snarked. "Lucky you, get to nap all day."

Drake chuckled but kept his focus on moving forward. He kept an eye out for traps but couldn't see any. Ronon grumbled softly and clicked his radio again. "Keep an eye out… we might have missed someone."

"_Copy…"_

The small group moved forward, fully cognizant of the fact that the dark corners and musty atmosphere could easily hide another trap. Another scratching sound was heard ahead of them and Ronon became more wary. It was coming from around the corner and none of them could see what it was. The Satedan held his hand up for a moment and using both hands, made a motion to signal a grenade. Drake understood, and pulled a flashbang from his vest. Dusty took a position on the wall ready to weave in and fire, while Ronon stood above her giving her a good support position.

Drake quietly inched forward, yanked the pin, and flung the grenade around the corner. The three of them covered their ears and waited for the bang and flash to abate, right before it could though, a yelp of surprise told them they'd acted proper and it wouldn't be long to have someone to question.

------------------------------------

"Lemme guess… you never came back here?"

John shrugged as he and Sam walked down the path towards the Temple of Chaya, he was obviously a little bothered at coming here. "Well… no."

Sam sympathized with him. The planet _was_ beautiful, but the knowledge of why Chaya was forced to remain here was oddly disconcerting. "Shame… nice looking planet."

"Yeah… it is."

Neither really felt like talking much, ever since that night on the pier they'd stopped having such friendly chats, playing chess… the fact that Sam knew John's plan was starting to drive a wedge between them. Sam still wasn't sure what she would actually do, but for now, all she could be sure of was trying to save as many people as she could.

It wasn't long before someone came down the path towards them, and John muttered softly. "Aww… _crap."_

Sam smirked, and remembered the stories she'd heard. Even the way he said _'Aw Crap'_ reminded her of the few moments she'd seen his ex-wife. "Girl at every gate?" It was a little mean, but she still enjoyed teasing John.

"Hey! Low blow… 2 minute penalty!"

Snickering, Sam rolled her eyes at the way John mixed sports metaphors, The woman walking was… wow… Sam's instinct was correct. John _did_ attract the beautiful ones. "John Sheppard… I did not expect to see you again." The woman turned to Sam and cocked her head to the side. "Samantha Carter?"

Both John and Sam turned to look at each other in surprise. Sam cocked her head and looked to Chaya curiously. "Uhhh hi? How do you…?"

Chaya's face became a bit sullen, and she simply gave a small pout. "I am not surprised you have come… Follow me."

Both soldiers were mightily confused now. Nevertheless, they did as Chaya asked and followed without a word.

-------------------------------------

Chuck had always loved being a gate technician. Back at the SGC Walter hogged all the action, but every once in awhile it was fun to mess with him. Now though it was different… Atlantis was much more relaxed… almost not a military base at all. Certainly if General Landry saw what Larrin was doing to his shoulders while Amelia went for a coffee break he'd get a dressing down. "_Ooooaaahhh_…… that's _godly_."

Larrin chuckled and dug her fingers deeper into Chuck's shoulders. Granted this was more for _her_ fun, but why can't fun be mutual? "Well… just a little something to pay you back for putting up with me." A little shift to the side, and she found a nerve ending that made Chuck's spine shiver in delight. "Ohh like that?"

Repressing his moan, Chuck could barely speak as his muscles became like soft dough under her touch. "Oh _hell yeah_… Remind me to schedule another training session."

"Well don't pass out yet, there's still…"

An alarm suddenly started to ring, and despite the almost orgasmic feeling in his shoulders, Chuck quickly snapped back to reality and flung his fingers to the console. "Incoming wormhole!" He tapped his earpiece quickly and followed standard procedure. "Major Lorne to the control room… I repeat, Major Lorne to the control room ASAP."

An acknowledgement, and Larrin quickly let go of Chuck and got into combat mode herself. "Any idea who it is?"

Shaking his head, Chuck noted Amelia come rushing into the control room from the opposite side. There must have still been drool on his face as she gave him a somewhat surprised expression. She quickly shook it off though and took her seat.

The gate finally finished dialing, and after the big kawhoosh, a radio signal came in. "_This is Ronon… my team's ready to come back… we have a prisoner."_

Obviously listening in, Lorne's disembodied voice came through. _"Lower the shield guys… I'm with Jackson and Teyla and can't leave just yet. You up there Larrin?"_

Both techs looked to Larrin who scowled realizing that she'd have to take over _again._ "Uhh yeah… yeah sure no problem." She rolled her eyes and nodded to Chuck. "Well stop staring at my tits and drop the shield big boy!"

Amelia couldn't hold her snort, and Chuck shot her an exasperated look, he didn't have much a choice though and dropped the shield. "Right… Ronon? The shield's down. I've got guards waiting to take your prisoner."

No acknowledgment, but a few seconds passed and Ronon's team came in carrying an injured man. "_Carter! Sheppard!_"

Larrin decided to take the bull by the horns so to speak and walked over to the gate room below. "Sorry big'an'bad, they're off-world. Me and Lorne are in charge."

Ronon growled softly, looked to his team and how they handed the dazed and confused prisoner off to the guards to be taken to the brig. He nodded to each and each nodded back. They were ready for round 2. "He gave us the address where our man is… We need Cadman's team… and lots of explosives."

Raising her eyebrows, Larrin couldn't help but like the idea of blowing up Wraith stuff. "You got it."

-----------------------------------

"I'm sorry… but from our latest reports, the Asurans have wiped out many worlds leaving them inhospitable. They're going planet by planet and exterminating anything that the Wraith can use even as they hunt them down."

The refugee leader, a man named Devoc, shook his head and scowled. "We have been here for months now! My people are more restless everyday and tensions are rising… If you will not allow us to live our lives as we choose, then they have no meaning!"

Teyla tried to back up Daniel, but the attempt at quelling violence clearly wasn't working as well as they'd hoped. "It will only be for awhile longer Devoc… At least until we can find a safe place for all of you."

Another Refugee leader, this one separated from Devoc by an IOA appointed Marine Guard, spoke out harshly. "I will _not _be herded like cattle with _his _people!"

Daniel winced and held up his hands trying to get some sense of diplomacy going. The talks were failing and there was no way to stop it.

No one really saw who threw the first punch of the crowd behind them, or even if it was a punch. But within moments of the intolerant slur, the crowd began to rock back and forth like a mosh pit, punching, kicking, and biting as they lost control.

Daniel felt the vulnerability of their position, and he quickly turned to Teyla and helped her up as they began to retreat to where several IOA appointed Marines had their stunners out and aiming. Major Lorne tried to yell and bring things under control but pandemonium ruled now.

The stun shots began to fly into the crowd, Men women and children all fell from the non-lethal rounds quickly creating a panic. Lorne Daniel and Teyla screamed for them to stop, but the IOA Guards had their orders and they were following them to the letter.

A knife suddenly flew out of the crowd, the dull carbon steel of the stolen air force issue #499 combat knife reflectionless as it soared over the heads of scared people.

Daniel had been wounded before, but the force at which the blade smacked into the back of his shoulder felt like he'd been shot. His cry of pain and sudden drop to the floor drew another shriek from those around him, and Teyla hesitated for a moment as she stumbled in the chaos.

She quickly recovered, and screaming at one of the Marines to help her, picked up the wounded Archeologist and dragged him away from the massacre.

Nobody would die today… but peace was something far off.

------------------------------------

As if Larrin bossing him around and flirting heavily with him wasn't bad enough, Now a _second_ incoming unscheduled wormhole was dialing in. "Incoming wormhole!"

Larrin growled softly and motioned to Amelia. "Probably Carter and Sheppard."

Amelia did her best not to blow a raspberry at Larrin, and checked for IDC or radio signals. "Getting a radio signal… it's…" Her eyes went wide at the carrier signal. "It's the SGC!"

The few techs in the room turned confused, the radio transmission now coming through clear. "_This is General Landry at the SGC calling Atlantis. Please respond immediately."_

Larrin was _way_ out of her zone now. Coordinating policing parties and power usage was one thing, but dealing with the SGC? "Uhh… I think I'm gonna walk that way and let you guys deal with this." Both Chuck and Amelia nodded, and Larrin quickly skedaddled out of the control room towards the jumper bay. Chuck got up out of his seat and tapped his headset seeing as he was now the senior officer. "This is Atlantis, we read you General."

"_Is Colonel Carter there son?"_

"No sir… she and Colonel Sheppard are offworld at the moment."

A moment of hesitation, and Landry's voice came through a little quieter. "_Is that you Sergeant Campbell?"_

"Uhh yes sir. I'm currently the senior officer in the control room."

"_Where's Major Lorne? Why isn't there a command level officer there?"_

Amelia winced and thought of how she could help Chuck, nothing came to mind. "Major Lorne is currently busy with refugee matters sir. Most of the other command staff are occupied as well."

General Landry sighed on the other end, and then spoke softly and clearly. "_Drop the shield on your gate Sergeant. We've got a package going through…"_

Chuck did as he was ordered, and he wondered what could possibly be coming through. "Yes Sir… shield is down. Send it on through."

He moved from the control room console over to where he could see the gate. 5 figures moved through momentarily, 4 heavily armed marines… and one bald headed politician.

--------------------------------------------

"_Distraction rigged… whenever you're ready Ronon."_

With Dusty right beside him, and Vega up on top of the roof of the building opposite, the 6 other men and women that made up Ronon and Cadman's team were ready to breach the enemy held building. "Do it."

In the distance, a series of explosions went off completely tearing out one of the sides of a long abandoned building. It buckled under it's own weight and began to topple over to the side. It served well as a distraction and Ronon knew Drake and Cadman had fun doing it. He waited a few seconds, and several hybrids burst out from the building they were assaulting. 4 Hybrids holding stunners moved around the building and into perfect sighting of Vega's Battle Rifle. "Take em out Vega!"

A quartet of silence burst, the bullets ricocheting off the ground and the building behind them. A few gave out cries of pain, but nothing too loud. Ronon waited a second and then clicked his radio. "Move in! Secure the building and watch for traps!"

The teams moved in quickly, there wasn't much resistance to their surprise. The prisoner they'd taken on the other planet assured them that this was where the Prisoner Michael had was being kept. Cadman was right beside Ronon now leading the charge.

A few last stragglers remained, and the blasts of stun bolts quickly separated Cadman and Ronon from the rest of their team. The stragglers tried to fight Mehra, but the gung-ho marine quickly intimidated them with her P90's loud bursts and screams of _"Eat it bitches!"_

Ronon looked at the door in front of him, and he delivered a hard kick to the lock. It hurt slightly when the door didn't budge, but he made no mention of it. "Rrrgg…."

Cadman smacked him on the arm and motioned for him to move away. "Here… let me…" She removed an item from her vest and stuck it to the door.

"The hell is that?"

With a smirk, Cadman began to stick the item around the lock and jamb. "Detcord… _Ha_ who needs a locksmith!? Stand back!"

Ronon did as he was told and held his hands over his ears. Cadman did the same and lit the fuse as she stood back.

It was as loud as a shotgun, but the lock was blown clear off barely hanging onto the door. Ronon tried his kick again and this time it worked perfectly. He lunged into the room with his gun at the ready, Cadman right on his tail with her P90 leveled.

"_Bloody hell! Where'd you learn to knock!?"_

Laura Cadman had spent the last few months hardening to tough situations. Losing Hester before her eyes, another teammate critically wounded and sent back to Earth in a Wheelchair… her mind had slowly been getting more and more desensitized to the violence Pegasus was enduring. But seeing the Scottish man in front of her… someone she was _sure_ was dead… _"Ca-Ca-Carson!?" _

The man moved forward and took the catatonic Cadman into a bear hug. "Oh ye have no clue how happy I am ta see ya." He turned to Ronon and nodded appreciatively. "I knew you'd find me… I just knew it."

Ronon didn't know what to do… and for the first time in a _very_ long time, he felt honestly frightened.

_------------------------------_

"_Oh my god."_

Both John and Sam said it at the same time. Despite being a bit thinner than the last time they saw him, it was certainly the man they both knew. "Hey Sam… Sheppard…" His voice was soft, but just a little anxious

Chaya sighed as she turned away, seemingly refusing to look at the man dressed in white in front of them. "He arrived some time ago… my people took pity on him and nursed him back to health… Some remembered who he was."

The shock of seeing him alive… after so many months of being convinced he was dead… Both John and Sam whispered together… their thoughts the same.

"_Rodney?"_

"Yeah… yeah it's me."

John and Sam didn't know what to say. It had been 5 months since the catastrophe at Asuras and the guilt that they'd left Rodney behind tore open the healing wound.

Rodney for that matter seemed… oddly calm. His white clothing and clean cut appearance were so unlike him… as was the way he simply smiled instead of screaming for a ride home. "Well… no 'hullo Rodney! Good to see you're alive?'"

With a somewhat frustrated sigh, Chaya pouted softly and moved off. John took a step forward towards Rodney and finally spoke. "H-h-how?"

Rodney smirked, and looked to John intently for a moment before looking to Sam. "Speechless? Yeah… I guess I would be too."

Unwilling to remain catatonic, Sam kept her voice quiet. "Ronon saw you get shot… _he… you… we_ thought you were dead."

Shrugging, Rodney moved over and sat on a bench near some flowers. "Yeah… yeah I did get shot. It feels like it was so long ago…"

John remained in his standing position and looked to Sam with an expression of begging. Sam understood and decided to give the two men a moment alone, but before she did, she turned to Rodney and smiled. "I… I'm happy you're okay Rodney… we'll talk in a minute." She nodded to John softly and moved over to where Chaya was standing with her back turned, but it was obvious her guilt was weighing her down more than her irritation.

For that matter, John moved over and sat across from Rodney. "I… I thought you were dead."

Rodney's smile was laced with sorrow and sighing softly as he spoke quietly. "So did I… I…" A quick breath, and Rodney turned to him. "It's so complicated…"

"We can work it out back home… We'll take you back to Atlan…"

"I'm not going back." It was a statement, not a request.

John narrowed his eyes and gave Rodney a pleading look. "What? Why? We _need_ you Rodney… Things are worse than ever and we _need_ you."

Shaking his head, Rodney smiled ruefully. "No… you don't understand… I _can't_ go back."

"Why? Dammit Rodney I'm not leaving you behind…"

Sighing softly, realizing what had to be done, Rodney held his hand out to John. "I can show you… I can show you why."

John swallowed his guilt, and bowed his head in shame. "How?"

Rodney moved his hand and took John's tightly. It was the only way….

--------------------------------------

"So you've been with him for almost 2 years?"

This… Carson facsimile nodded and sighed as he took a swig of the canteen Laura handed him. "Aye lass…" He was obviously bothered by what had happened, but he seemed so happy to have been found. "He's been continuing his experiments into Wraith/Human hybrids… he wanted to use them to steal a cruiser so he could get away from the replicators."

Ronon simply remained silent as he stared off into the distance. The strike team had succeeded in taking out most if not all of the garrison. Michael was nowhere to be seen but a prisoner had been taken and Drake had volunteered to… _interrogate…_ him. Ronon was much more concerned with the dead man standing before him.

Carson for that matter was only too ecstatic to have survived. "it's been a few days since I saw him last… he took his latest batch of hybrids and went to try and steal a Wraith Cruiser from a shipyard he knew."

Finally feeling strong enough to speak, Ronon barked. "How do you know!?"

It was obvious Ronon was suspicious, and Carson could understand… just not why. "Ever since the replicators started destroying everything, He's been paranoid about surviving. He used these abandoned worlds as bases to lessen the chance the Replicators would find him, but the last lab I went to was destroyed."

Laura still didn't really know what to say. Carson's story of how Michael had captured him after the incident with the Wraith Hive was a long healed wound. She didn't know how she could tell him what had happened afterwards.

Before they could really say anything though, Lieutenant Drake came into the room and saluted briskly. "Sirs."

Ronon took the chance to get away and nodded back. "What is it?"

Carson sighed softly and held Laura's hand tightly as Ronon followed Drake out the prison cell. Laura was still teary eyed and unsure of what to say. "Laura… I never doubted that you'd come."

All Laura wanted to do now as run away… instead of now preparing to tell Carson what had her and Ronon so spooked.

Outside the door however, Ronon could feel his blood boiling. The young man in front of him looked up and rocked back and forth as if in a daze. It took a few seconds to gather the will power, but Ronon moved forward and took the shattered man into a hug… something the man looked like he truly needed.

------------------------------------

Daniel hated being stuck in the infirmary, even more so when it was _he_ who was hurt instead of the typical vigil he'd have for someone. Although that was sometimes even less fun than this…Thankfully, Teyla sat next to him and held his hand supportively. "You know… I'm not all that surprised that I got hit."

Teyla smirked and patted his hand sympathetically. "Your calm is heartening. Dr Keller says the blade missed any vital organs or arteries."

Unable to keep from saying something, Daniel groaned as he felt the bandage tug at the hairs on his back. "Ohhh that makes this _sooo _much better…"

To the side, Nurse Marie snickered at Daniel's deadpan sarcasm. Especially because he was wearing scrubs and on his side with only a thin cover sheet protecting his cute backside from exposure. Teyla shook her head idly as she smirked, but her attention was on her wounded friend. "I am sure you will be out of here soon. Dr Keller may be busy at the moment with the refugees, but…"

All of a sudden a ruckus was heard to the side, and the sounds of marines forcing someone in was obvious. Teyla groaned softly and looked over Daniel's shoulder as she got up. "What is that?"

Marie turned, and looked back to Teyla with a somewhat worried look. "Ronon's team brought back a prisoner… they… _interrogated…_ him a little strenuously." Marie turned and shook her head idly. "I'm not too sure what happened… but I hear he deserved it."

A soft groan, and Daniel turned his head to see. The spindly looking man looked pale but Daniel still felt for him.

Teyla on the other hand froze for a moment, and remembered what had happened the last time she went to see her people. "I _know_ that man…"

Daniel looked to Teyla, and could see that _someone_ was going to get a Banto Rod Colonoscopy.

--------------------------------

"So there's no chance we can send people here?"

Chaya shook her head, she obviously felt shame and guilt over what Sam was asking. "Rodney has told me of your experiences with Ascended Beings… you know of the "Others"."

Sam nodded as she sighed. "Yes… I've… heard about them."

"Then you know why I cannot help you."

Shrugging around indecisively, Sam gave her a pleading look. "I know you can't _protect_ them… but why can't they come to this planet and live far away from your people? The Wraith don't come here anyway because they're afraid of you… and from what I can tell the Asurans won't be coming here anymore."

Chaya took a deep breath as she smiled harshly. "You speak truthfully… but should the Wraith or Asurans arrive… I would only be able to protect _my _people… no matter what I may wish."

Sam nodded, and sighed heavily. "… I don't know what it was like when you first met John… but it's so much worse now."

"The Asurans have had their attack codes changed... Rodney was the one to change them."

"Yes… we've been trying to stop them ever since."

Chaya shook her head and sighed softly. "You will fail… ten thousand years ago I watched as our fleet turned their planet into dust… and still we did not finish them."

Bowing her head, Sam winced thinking about what might have happened. "We're desperate Chaya… we're not going to stop trying but we can't hold them off forever…"

A sudden scream from over where Rodney and John were drew both of their attentions, and Sam quickly rushed over along the path. When she saw John on the floor holding his face and half screaming in terror, Rodney above him holding his shoulders… "Rodney! What happened?!"

Rodney turned to look at Sam with a calm yet worried face. "It's only temporary… it's the only way Sam."

Chaya grimaced softly and cursed in a foreign language, but remained where she was. John had lowered his voice from a scream to a sudden trembling whimper, his body shaking. Sam dropped quickly and put an arm on him trying to comfort him even as he now sobbed. She looked back to Rodney next to her. _"What'd you do?"_

With an apologetic sigh, Rodney got up and took a step back. "It's the only way… he wouldn't leave without me…"

Suddenly broken, John turned and pulled Sam into a full force hug sobbing mercilessly into her shoulder. It was so sudden, all Sam could really do was hold him and try and sooth whatever was tormenting him. "Leave? But… what are you talking about Rodney!?" Raising a hand, Rodney seemed to focus. When his hand began to glow and become translucent, Sam finally understood. "_Oh… oh my god… you… you…"_

Rodney nodded softly, and the rest of his body began to glow with a white light. "Yeah… I uhh… I was surprised too."

Chaya grumbled softly and turned to them again. "I had nothing to do with that before you ask. He arrived and once he was healed he ascended with no help whatsoever…" She looked to Rodney with a blank stare. "… and has refused to leave until you arrived."

Holding a broken John Sheppard in her arms, looking at an ascended Rodney McKay… Sam truly knew the universe had gone mad. "Rodney… what'd you do to John?"

Crouching, Rodney put a hand on John's back supporting him. "He… he wouldn't leave me behind Sam… John is… well he's the most loyal man I know. My best friend… Nevertheless, _I-I-I_ can't go back… _I-I just_… I can't."

"_Why not_? Why did you do this… whatever it is?"

Rodney seemed to phase, his vision off in the distance as if remembering. "Because John would never leave me behind… unless he knew how bad it hurt."

"What? What hurt? You're not making any sense." Sam was breathing heavier now, feeling John sobbing softly into the nape of her neck was by far the last thing she ever expected to happen and it was chipping away at her own control. "Just tell me Rodney… _please."_

A piercing stare, and Rodney closed his eyes as he bowed his head. "I… I can't… but John can… he won't stay like this for long… it'll pass and he can tell you everything…" Holding his hand up, Rodney motioned for Sam to take his hand. "Goodbye Sam… I wish I could show you… I wish…" he chuckled a bit, and then smiled at Sam. "… it could have never happened… but I'm glad we got this chance to say goodbye."

It was happening too fast, Sam couldn't understand what was happening and she desperately held her hand out to Rodney. "_No!_ _No wait please! Why can't you stay!?_"

Taking her hand, Rodney allowed the energy to flow around her fingers and caress her wrist. "I'm sorry Sam… The others won't allow it… there's more at stake than you realize and…" Rodney silenced quickly, almost involuntarily. He leaned forward and held Sam's hand to his cheek. "…I'm glad it was you who came… Take care of John for me would you? And tell Zelenka to compensate for the subspace turbulence when you activate the wormhole drive."

Feeling his fingers lose their solidity, Sam finally lost an edge of her control and reached out to him desperately, her voice cracking with strained effort. _"Rodney!"_

Slowly Rodney began to fade from sight, and his voice carried softly with the wind. "Thank you for everything Sam… I'm sorry I can't…" He smiled, and squeezed her hand one last time. "… Take care of yourself… I mean it."

Watching a friend of hers vanish into nothingness, all while holding another friend who was having a breakdown, Sam sniffled once harshly as she tried to keep a hold of Rodney. "_Rodney…"_

He was gone, and John's whimpers were the only sound for miles

---------------------------

"Tell me where he has them."

Ronon watched impassively from the side, He knew Drake was willing to do a lot of things most marines weren't. Ronon himself would handle this interrogation but he needed to make sure no one saw them.

Cadman had taken… _Carson_… and was giving him a quick recap of everything he didn't know. Ronon didn't know _what_ to do with him and decided to err on the side of caution. Atlantis would find out soon enough and be the ones to make the final decision.

In the meantime, Drake would put his… _talents…_ to use. "You see this here? It's called Composition Four… all it takes is the right detonator and _boom_." The wounded hybrid hissed and spat in Drake's face. It wasn't going to say a word. Drake wiped off the spittle from his face and turned to Ronon. The exchange used no words, but Ronon knew to leave the room and let no one inside.

The door closed softly, and Ronon made sure the other marines were nowhere nearby. With his strong hearing, he could listen to Drake's next words. "_The thing is… this stuff only blows up when the right detonator is used… if it's not…" _The sound of a butane windproof lighter being lit gave an eerie feeling to the circumstance. Drake's voice changed as he put his gas mask on. _"It'll burn for quite awhile…"_

Sounds of a struggle, and Ronon knew what Drake was doing. The hybrid was already wounded from a beating he and Drake had given it, and now all that was left was to get the information they needed.

Ronon would normally never condone the behavior taking place inside that room. He could already imagine Drake stuffing a cloth into the hybrids mouth and mentally preparing himself.

Torture was a tricky thing… and Ronon knew damn well Carter and Sheppard wouldn't understand. But this was different.. and he knew that even though Teyla wouldn't approve…

Her people were more important than that.


	4. Chapter 4

"How're the upgrades going?"

Larrin looked up from the tablet Chuck had loaned her and furrowed her brow. "Colonel… they're moving along nicely. Any luck and we'll be able to set out in a day or two."

Caldwell moved closer and looked at Larrin's engineers as they welded and generally made a quick job of what normally would take his crew quite awhile. "Nice crew, how long have they done this kinda work?"

A shrug from Larrin. "Most grew up in the engine rooms. Carter said she wishes she could have been like that."

A small laugh, and Caldwell shook his head idly. "Like she wasn't already… She's probably the smartest woman my planet ever spawned and from what I've heard, she's fought more battles than anyone else on this base combined. "

'_Guess she really does pull the wool over your eyes baldy.'_ Larrin couldn't help but think it as she noted not a single hint of suspicion from the older Colonel. Larrin wondered exactly how the whole thing would go down in the next few weeks… if not sooner.

----------------------------------

"_It's so bad… I… holy shit… goddamn nanite bastard…"_

It was excruciating to hear John mumbling those words into her TacVest. Sam gently rubbed his back, and wondered why Chaya was off to the side seemingly ignoring them. "Shhh… John… come on…"

His sobbing had stopped, but John's breathing remained erratic as he remained holding onto Sam like a buoy in a storm. "_They… they tortured him… they… they broke… everything…"_

"Shhh… it's okay…"

A hard breath, and John raised his voice slightly. "_No! No It's not okay!_ _Goddamnit Sam…!_ _they…they raped him…everything he was…_"

Sam winced hard; she knew with particularly how the replicators could take everything one was. "I… I know John… I know."

"_NO!" _John screamed, barely repressing his sob with a hard grimace. "_No… you … you can't… it's so bad Sam… it's…"_

John didn't know what Sam had been through, it was classified _way_ above his clearance and Sam decided to clear him for it... just this once. "You're wrong… _I do…"_ Sam leaned in slowly and whispered into John's ear with just the hint of bitterness. "_I __do__ know what it's like John… Why do you think I hate the replicators so much?"_

Silence, John couldn't say anything to that admission. He just squeezed her tighter and breathed quietly… slowly forgetting the anguish he'd begged Rodney to show him.

--------------------------------------

Drake stepped out of the room with a sullen face. Ronon gave him a look that spoke of sympathy, but Drake would have none of it. "They're in a building a block south of here… mostly kids left."

Ronon grumbled softly, there were over 60 Athosians that had been captured… and for only the children to have survived was a harsh reality. "And him?" Ronon motioned with his head to the isolated room.

A silent stare, and Drake lowered his eyes to reply. "Geneva's long ways away… let's just say it was his deathbed confession."

No words, Ronon knew he'd only done what needed to be done. "And Michael?"

"Shipyard… he hybridized as many as he could and attacked. That was 2 days ago."

Ronon clenched his fist hard enough to crack his knuckles, then narrowed his eyes. "Did he say where?"

Drake pulled out his notepad, and the gate address. "Wraith planet… says there's a big orbital shipyard… Michael lost his cruiser to the Replicators last month and he wanted to steal one from the Wraith."

"You good to go?"

The lieutenant looked to the side, the silent screams of the Hybrid in the room were still on his mind, but he knew his duty. "No… but I will be once we go fuck Michael up."

A wide grin came over Ronon's mouth. Better words Drake couldn't have said.

------------------------------------------

"_How'd you deal with it_?"

John had improved quickly, almost as if the images going past his eyes were fading. Sam now only had one arm around him supportively, and it was difficult to admit it, but seeing Chaya standing off to the side by herself made her angry… why wasn't _she_ here? Why wasn't this woman who _supposedly_ _loved_ John not here supporting him? "It was a long time ago…"

"Time? _God_… the shit storm's about to hit the city and I _don't have time!"_

Sam pulled him closer and squeezed him compassionately. _"I know… I know…" _Sam finally couldn't take it anymore and spoke out loudly. "_Chaya_!"

The ascended Lantean turned, her eyes moist with sorrow. "I _cannot _help him!"

"There must be something you can do!"

John was oblivious to it all, he rested his head softly on Sam's shoulder and kept his eyes closed… reliving the torment Rodney had been put through.

Chaya for that matter was obviously bothered. "_I cannot help him_… he has the memories of an ascended and it will leave him slowly… the longer he holds it…"

Sam suddenly realized in horror what was happening in John's mind. "_It's killing him!_"She turned around and pulled John's face close up "John! You have to let it go _now! It's killing you!"_

Hunched over and still trembling, John couldn't get the image of Rodney watching them all die out of his head… over and over and over… It was the only way Rodney could show John why he couldn't come back. "It was killing _him_… that's why he ascended…"

Wincing hard, and realizing that John's life was in danger now, Sam pulled him into another hug and whispered strongly in his ear just to make sure he understood. "Listen to me John… the longer you try and hold onto those memories the more it's going to damage you…" a moment to steel herself, and Sam let yet another closely guarded moment out. "…The Ascended being I told you about… The one I… he came back to help us with the Ori… and he pushed himself so hard he nearly died…_ he can't even remember his name anymore…" _The thought of something like that happening to John… now that she knew how far it could go… Sam wasn't willing to accept that.

All John could do in reply was groan softly, and take Sam's hand in his and squeeze.

---------------------------------------

The world where the Wraith were supposed to have their shipyard was like many they'd found over the years, lush, green, and verdant… one of the last planets one would think to find such monsters as the Wraith. The night did little to hid the beauty of this world.

The scene around the gate was chaos though… bodies… both Wraith and Hybrid lay strewn about in a fashion of battle. Neither side was playing games, both had killed many of the opposing side.

There were more dead Wraith than Hybrids it seemed, and Ronon kept his team quiet as they moved ahead. Up in the distant evening sky, they made out the distinct U shape of an orbital dock… an empty one.

Ronon made some hand signals, and his team spread out to cover more ground. The fighting looked like it was intense, and Ronon wasn't surprised that many of the dead had slashing wounds. What hurt the most though was that many of the dead were hybridized Athosians… people Ronon knew.

It became apparent that this was a graveyard world. Unlike so many others in the galaxy, it wasn't the Asurans that had turned it into one. Ronon gave a few Wraith some kicks just to make sure they were dead, and he noted with grim satisfaction that the Hybrids had done their job well.

30 minutes of searching, and finally someone found something. Dusty came over the radio quietly, almost as if afraid to speak. "Contact… wounded hybrid… he's limping towards the gate… looks pretty mangled. Should I take him out?"

Ronon growled and clicked his radio. "You recognized him?"

A few moments of hesitation, and Dusty called back. "I think it's Michael_."_

Everyone who heard that tone knew immediate that yes, Dusty _did _think it was Michael. Ronon knew what he had to do now, he knew what Teyla would do at this point. "Fall back. Regroup and find any Athosians you can… Michael's mine."

Hesitation, everybody wanted to kill the bastard. But Dusty, Vega and Drake knew their duty and each followed orders.

Tracking the former Wraith was simple; it wasn't like he was trying to hide his footprints or blood stains. Even his smell was distinctive and it made Ronon sick to his stomach.

Finally catching up with him, Michael noted instantly someone following him. He spun and aimed, looking for whatever was quietly sneaking up… using one hand to hold the wound in his side, the other to scan the tress with his stunner. He was so determined to stay alive that he didn't even notice Ronon who had already gotten behind him.

The first strike was clean and ruthless. Michael's legs were swept out from under him and within seconds his former feeding hand was fractured, standard tactic when ambushing a Wraith. Ronon was merciless as he grabbed the Hybrid by his collar and dragged him off the path towards the trees.

2 minutes of struggling and finally Ronon stopped and threw him to the ground. Michael was obviously in pain, but his Wraith physiology kept him from showing it. "Fool! You have no idea what happened here!"

Ronon kicked him hard in the chest, sending the Hybrid again to the ground. Revenge was something Ronon truly enjoyed… one of the last things this galaxy could offer him, "You murdered the Athosians…"

Michael spit at Ronon in contempt, his bloodied lip hiding none of the pain he was in. "And you'd murder me!? Ignorant fool! Do what you must… but the Wraith will make you pay…"

Grabbing him by the collar again, Ronon slammed him into a large tree as he held the Particle Magnum to his head. "I thought you hated the Wraith…"

"And they hate me… and now they have the firepower to survive…"

Ronon growled softly, and knowing that revenge could wait a minute, decided to hold an interrogation. "Firepower? The hell are you talking about?"

Laughing now, Michael seemed utterly insane… or at least more than usual. "Ha-ha-ha! You'll die the same as I will…" he winced as Ronon squeezed his knee into the wound in his side, and quickly spoke. "The Wraith... they have made a Hive… some kind of upgraded hive to combat the Replicators… I used a bomb strong enough to level your main tower in Atlantis… it barely put a scratch on it."

Not really caring, but paying attention anyway, Ronon pulled a cord from his pack and tied one of Michael's hands to it. "A _super_hive?"

Scoffing, Michael tried to fight back with a kick, but Ronon quickly dodged it and drove his knee into the Hybrid's gut. It fell to the floor groaning and spitting blood, but still furious. "Do what you will to me… not even the replicators can stop that Hive…"

Ronon was one who always tried to oblige the wishes of others. So he quickly gave Michael a palm strike to the face, momentarily stunning him, and tied his one broken hand securely to a branch high above. The hybrid's arm stretched uncomfortably as he hung there. The rope was strong and wouldn't break easily… exactly what Ronon wanted.

Michael scoffed again, and he spit at Ronon once more. "You'd leave me here to starve?"

Shaking his head, Ronon drew his sword. "You won't live that long." With a quick slash, the blade tore a 5-inch long opening in the Hybrid's stomach area through all the muscle, sinew and soft tissue. Michael instantly used his free hand to hold his now spilling guts in, and he looked up in horror to Ronon who simply muttered. "If you can untie yourself… you're free to go."

With that, Ronon left a screaming and slowly dying Michael to choose his fate.

--------------------------------------

"He did this because he knew… he knew I wouldn't leave him behind."

Sam still had an arm around John, but he was quickly recovering, now talking quietly as they sat privately in front of a pool with Chaya having moved off unable to bear watching John in such torment. "What happened to him?"

John gulped, the memories were… vague… but some things were clear. His voice quavered even as he still shook. "He got hit… plasma nearly tore his leg off. He gave his PDA to Ronon and… and the nanite bastards didn't kill him. They goddamn bastards put him in a tank and fixed him so they could…" a moment of sorrow, and John finally found the strength to continue, Sam's hand on his shoulder wrapped around his helped a lot. "… They found a problem… you heard about the ascending machine right?"

Nodding, Sam kept her voice quiet. "Yeah… it nearly killed Rodney didn't it?"

"Yeah… but it changed his brain chemistry… he was able to fight the Asurans… he kept them from figuring out where Atlantis was… least till we could move the city… He saved us."

It was a surreal moment. Despite all the torture, and in the midst of the most arduous moment of his life, Rodney still defended his friends and family. "Yeah… I guess he really did."

"It took them months… all this time they never let him sleep… fed him using IVs… just… just constantly making him live out torture. He saw us all die Sam… over and over."

Sam remained silent, she recalled her own doppelganger's torment...

"His brain started to rewire itself to defend against it… reactivating all those connections the ascendo-machine made… but slowly. He could have survived it Sam… it wouldn't have killed him." Before Sam could reply, John held his palm to her to ask for silence. "He… he couldn't live with the torture… every moment he was awake all he could think about was everything he knew being torn apart again and again… He remembered everything me and Teyla taught him about meditating… and a week ago he did it… he ascended on his own Sam… he didn't have help from an ascended being. He can block it out like that... he's happy..."

That was surprising, but not so much that Sam couldn't wait to find out. "How'd he get away from Asuras?"

Now John receded again, _this _knowledge was what weighed so heavily on him. "… You trust me?" Sam nodded, in fact the mere fact that he had to ask was almost insulting now. "…it was Elizabeth…"

"_Doctor Weir_!? But… how?"

"That clone we found before… before the battle… it wasn't her… she didn't know…" John bowed his head, he'd already broken down once against his will… he was _not_ going to do it a second time. "…the real Elizabeth got put into a replicator body… and those renegade Asurans got away with her… they were hiding… trying to wait out the battle so they could try and reach ascension… but it didn't go like they expected."

Another quiet moment and the knowledge that the defeat at Asuras held much more ramifications for the Galaxy than were known to them. "…They were hoping we'd win."

Nodding, John continued. "Yeah… when they saw what happened… they waited a bit. Eventually one of them hooked back into the network and… they found Rodney. Elizabeth convinced them to try and save him… all while trying to stop the Asurans… and she did…" A moment to regain his control… Elizabeth's words in Rodney's mind flew through his mind at light speed… everything she ever wanted to tell them. "She's the one who blew up Asuras… blew every last ZPM on the planet to do it… only the Auroras are left."

More silence, and Sam simply sat with her second in command, quickly recovering from the shared memory. Eventually she spoke softly. "She really did love you guys didn't she?"

It was a trick question, and John knew exactly what Sam was asking. Never before did John even venture to answer this question, but knowing what he did now… he needed Sam's full trust and support. 'Yeah… yeah she did… and _we loved her too_."

Not much else could be said, and finally John seemed back to normal… despite his dejected demeanor. "Gimme a few minutes… we'll head back… nothing left to do here.." he wiped his face, hoping to clear any signs of his emotional breakdown.

Sam nodded softly and rubbed John's shoulder supportively. "Yeah… yeah no problem."

John smiled softly, feeling more than just a little apprehensive. "Umm… listen… can we… you know… keep this 'tween us?"

"Of course… in the vault." Sam rubbed his shoulder, and sighed softly knowing what a serious mental blow her second in command had just taken. He was recovering quickly though, and despite still feeling the loss of her other friend, there was a sense of hope that Rodney was truly in a better place.

--------------------------------

"Mr. Dex… it's a pleasure to see you again."

Ronon simply scowled, and his voice was harsh. "Right…"

Woolsey sighed softly and fixed his glasses as he opened his briefcase. "Seeing as there were issues with your trip to Earth… the IOA has hereby authorized me to handle your interview here on Atlantis… among other duties." He turned to Major Lorne who was resisting his scowl. "Major, my first business is to see Colonel Carter… could you inform her of my arrival?"

Major Lorne growled softly. He'd been on the sidelines for months now watching as Sam and John were slowly whittled to nothing by repeated stonewalling by the IOA. He certainly didn't like the man sitting across from him. "Colonel's Sheppard and Carter are offworld at the moment… they went to see if they could find a place we can send the refugees where the Wraith and Asurans can't get to them."

Woolsey furrowed his brow and drummed his fingers on the Lantean table of the conference room. "Very well Major… I would like to use this conference room for the next few hours to interview certain members of the expedition starting with Ronon. My personal escort will more than suffice, please make sure no one disturbs us."

Lorne was always one to follow orders… but this place was his home now, and the way Woolsey just walked in and instantly thought it was _his_ made Evan want to strangle the man. "…_Right_." He shot a sympathetic look to Ronon who now sat down smiling sardonically.

The Satedan for that matter was furious. But he wouldn't show it. The plan was still to come and from what he'd gathered, at least his own strike team would follow him.

Outside the door, Major Lorne groaned softly and grimaced as yet _another_ incoming wormhole materialized. He crossed the gap over to the control room and spotted Larrin hiding in the back with Amelia. "Report? Who's dialing us?"

Responding to him via com, Sam's voice was plainly irritated. "_It's just us Major. We're on our way back."_

Larrin shrugged and clicked her tongue. "What she said."

Seeing that he would only have a few moments to warn the Colonels about Woolsey's arrival, Lorne motioned to Chuck and nodded. "Drop the shield… keep quiet about Woolsey." He looked to the entire staff. "That goes for _all_ of you!"

The staff nodded, none wanting to even think of the politician in the conference room. Lorne quickly left the control room and darted down the steps to the gate where Sam and John were now exiting. They didn't look too pleased. "Major… what's the rush?" It was plain to both Sam and John that Lorne had news, but John was still a bit too bothered by his experience to talk.

"Things have changed big time ma-am… you want the bad news, the worse news or the strange news?"

Sam raised her eyebrows. "We've got some strange news of our own… but go ahead."

John remained silent, simply contemplating what to do now that he was back home. Lorne spoke quietly, ensuring that none of the marines nearby could hear him. "Bad news… Woolsey's here." He raised his hands to silence both and continued. "Let me explain…! The IOA grabbed the ZPM from Odyssey and made one dial with it. They sent Woolsey to make sure we… _follow_… their orders."

Anger flushed through Sam's cheeks. Her fists curled at the feeling of betrayal. "_What?!_ Where is he!?"

Hooking his thumb, Lorne pointed out the conference room. "In there with Ronon… but that's just the tip of the iceberg."

Shaking her head and rubbing her forehead, Sam muttered. "Let's go to my office… I'll deal with _Woolsey_ later."

A quick walk, a few strange glances at the leaders of the expedition, and even fully armed and armored they entered the glass-cased office. Major Lorne sighed deeply and continued the conversation from before. "Strange news, or Worse news?"

John had remained silent up until now, but seeing as things were slowly but definitely falling apart right in front of him, he needed to know _now._ "Out with it… _Now_." His voice was rougher than it needed to be, but he figured nothing could weigh him down anymore than knowing his best friend was gone forever after months of torture.

Sam didn't bother looking at him, John had just gone through hell and back and he needed space.

Lorne noted that the Lieutenant Colonel wasn't exactly himself either, and quickly recited the past day's activities. "Ronon's team took out Michael's compound and we've managed to recover the data from his computers. Turns out he was planning on using that old Hoffan Drug to wage war against the Wraith but with the Replicators around, he never really had a chance."

Nodding, Sam furrowed her brow. "Alright… that's.... not _exactly_ bad news."

Cocking his head, Lorne questioned how to say the next part. "That's not the half of it… the goddamn Wraith bastard was the one who kidnapped the Athosians… he used them for his experiments with making hybrids."

Both John and Sam gave shocked expressions, and now John stepped forward from his supportive stance. "What?! What happened to them!?"

Gulping, Lorne bowed his head. "Everyone but the children… he hybridized them all and used them to try and attack a Wraith planet… they're all dead."

Wincing hard, John turned around and felt his ire burn the inner linings of his arteries. Sam grimaced and clenched her jaw. The news truly was horrifying. "… And Michael?"

"…Ronon's team found him… but he won't say what he did. The others didn't see but Ronon says it was too quick."

A few moments of silence, honoring those Athosians that had met such a horrible fate. John rubbed the bridge of his nose and wondered just how worse the day could get. "…Has anyone told Teyla?"

Lorne shook his head, but he didn't look any bit relieved. "Turns out we didn't have to… Ronon went to three planets chasing down Michael and on the first one he brought back a prisoner… turns out it was the same guy who Teyla and Keller saw back then when the Athosians were taken."

"Where is she?" John's voice was still harsh, but now it had the definite sense of protector in it.

A wince covered Lorne's face, and he recalled the events of a few hours ago.

------------------------------- Flashback -------------------------------

"_Dammit…"_

Evan was _not_ pleased with how things went down earlier in the refugee peptalk. Daniel was hurt now, and from what Ronon's team had said before taking off with Cadman, the shit was about to hit the fan.

So when the call came for extra security down in the infirmary, Evan almost contemplated not answering. "This is Major Lorne… what's going on?"

Over his headset, he heard the distinct sounds of thrashing and toppling medical equipment. Screams in the background made him realize that something bad was going down. _"This is Dr Keller! We have an emergency situation and need security!"_

Lorne wasn't too far away, and the stunner attached to his belt beckoned his attention. As he hopped into the nearest transporter, Even called out on the radio. "I'm on my way! What's the situation?"

"_The prisoner Ronon brought back! He's the same man me and Teyla saw on New Athos!"_

The day was just getting worse and worse…

--------------------------End Flashback------------------------

Sam forced herself to stay calm, John was already about to snap from the insanity and Atlantis needed at least one leader with some degree of sanity. "…What happened when you got down there?"

Not daring to look at either of his commanders in the face, Evan spoke softly. "…The prisoner told Teyla what happened to her people… Teyla… she didn't take the news too well."

John's voice was terse and his jaw clenched. "_What… happened?"_

A moment to swallow the shock, and Evan sighed. "Keller had to sedate her… as far as I know she's still in the infirmary…"

Turning his head, Sam could tell that John was begging her to let him go see her. That meant that Sam would have to deal with Woolsey and whatever else was happening in this chaotic city. She turned her head slightly and nodded.

Before John could get up and go though, Lorne held his hands up to get them to stop. "Wait! There's more…" a frustrated groan left his mouth and both commanders could see Lorne was beyond shocked. "You're not gonna believe this… hell _I didn't believe it_ till Ronon came through the gate." Both leaders looked at him expectantly and Lorne hesitated a moment before speaking. "The prisoner Michael had…? it was…"

Seeing that the Major was reluctant to say it, Sam finally lost a bit of her patience. "_Major!"_

"It was… Carson Beckett."

Had either of the two leaders of the expedition weak hearts, certainly this news would have been a fatal shock.

-----------------------------------------

"I ran some testing… without getting into the details… he's a clone." Jennifer was haggard, days had turned into weeks and constant supervision and work keeping the expedition in one piece literally was putting a serious toll on her stamina.

What was keeping her together was a mix of Ronon forcing her to sleep and eat, as well as a Traveler Medic named Reyna who had become her assistant and liaison to the other less social Traveler Medics and Security.

Both Sam and John were equally tired, Jennifer kept looking at John with a worried expression, but the determination behind his eyes told her it was a futile argument. "How is this possible?"

Jennifer sighed and rubbed her forehead along her eyebrows, Reyna rubbed her shoulder and replied for her. "I believe Jennifer calls them 'Telomeres'. It is an essential part of the…" she turned to Jennifer and narrowed her eyes. "…DNA?"

Jennifer nodded and rubbed her face. "Yeah… it's an ever shrinking part of the DNA sequence… when a creature is cloned, the clone has shorter telomeres from having been born from an aged source."

Seeing that it was a rather complicated procedure, both Sam and John looked to each other and nodded agreeing not to question it. "Alright… so what's his story?"

"Well… as far as we can tell, Michael must have cloned him sometime after the second time Dr Beckett tried the retrovirus on the Wraith Hive. He uhh… he's had a rough time of it."

Sam winced and resisted putting her hand on Jennifer shoulder. The situation had gotten ludicrous and she needed to take a step back and keep focused. "What about Teyla? Major Lorne told us she had to be sedated…" Seeing Jennifer's frustrated grimace, Sam feared the worst. "She… she didn't… _lose the baby?"_

A gulp, and Sam could feel the rage emanating from John's stature. His voice was surprisingly calm. "Jennifer… _where's Teyla?_"

Jennifer shook her head and sighed. "I'd really rather leave her in isolation for now… I had to give her a massive sedative and… _perform a caesarian." _

Both leaders choked on their breaths. But Sam was the one to recover first. _"What!? _Wh… Major Lorne didn't say anything about that… is… is the baby okay?"

Shrugging indecisively, Jennifer sighed as she stretched her neck trying to recover from being up for so long. "Yeah… yeah the baby's alright… we had to put him in intensive care… but as long as there's power and medical supplies he should be okay."

Both John and Sam breathed a sigh of relief, but it seemed the day just got more and more complicated. John turned to Sam and rubbed the bridge of his nose to try and will the migraine away. "I'll deal with Carson and Teyla… you deal with Woolsey?"

Sighing, Sam knew it was the only fair option. "Deal… but come back me up once you're done." She motioned for John to get closer to avoid Jennifer hearing. "…Be careful… we don't know where this Carson came from…"

Taking a moment to think about it, he knew Sam was just being cautious… and truthfully John was feeling pretty defensive himself. Not only because the Wraith now knew where Atlantis was… but with Woolsey on the base a very unstable element had been added to an already critical situation… Politics.

----------------------------------

"I'll be interviewing and making an assessment of the Expedition's viability over the next few days. The IOA has authorized me to make changes as I see fit at the end of my observation time."

Sam felt a tingle go down her right arm. It had been a long time since she'd struck out in anger and Woolsey was seriously trying her patience. "Changes? What kind of changes?"

Woolsey raised an eyebrow and cocked his head slightly. "Everything from security protocols, to command level decisions."

"_Command_ level decisions? You mean whether or not we should be assigned here."

A moment's hesitation, and Woolsey clicked his tongue. "In a manner of speaking. Major Lorne has briefed me on most of the recent events regarding the wraith clone, the plan to steal ZPMs, as well as the fate of the Athosians."

Sam made a soft frustrated groan, and nodded. "He's briefed me as well… Colonel Sheppard is currently dealing with the clone of Carson Beckett as well as Teyla and the Prisoner."

"Very good…" Woolsey said it almost pedantically, as if it were just a little useless tidbit of information. "…I'd like to speak to Larrin the Traveler leader regarding the upcoming mission and the involvement of the Travelers in base security."

Checking her eyeroll, Sam nodded. "I'll arrange that for tomorrow. In the meantime I'd like to know what your initial thoughts are."

Woolsey furrowed his brow and faced off with Sam. "Initial thoughts on what specifically?"

Sam narrowed her eyes and asked herself that question… "Well… I guess the expedition in general. Especially given what's happened in the past few weeks I'm curious as to what the IOA is considering."

"Hmm…" Woolsey seemed to appraise her question, then nodded. "Very well… other than the refugees still being in the city, for the most part I can see that you've all been doing the best job you can under the circumstances."

Not exactly what Sam wanted to hear, but it would have to do for now. "That's fair I suppose. But I'm telling you right now that unless things become much more drastic, I'm not going to be sending the refugees to the mainland anytime soon."

"You may not have a choice." Seeing Sam turn to give him a somewhat surprised and almost hurt face, Woolsey cleared his throat. "What I mean is… the IOA has already suggested it. They may make it an order."

Sam found it hard to believe that the IOA could order something so heinous. The full depth of SEP finally hit her and she realized that unless the IOA was actually made of people who knew what it was like out here… "Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

It worried Sam that Woolsey didn't reply, but instead seemed a little frustrated himself.

-------------------------------------


	5. Chapter 5

Carson the clone… Teyla the mother… Woolsey the bureaucrat… Rodney the ascended…Things had come to a head and John was ready to snap. The night's fitful sleep he'd had barely made a difference

Atlantis just wasn't the same anymore… walking down these corridors, John saw heavily armed marines and Traveler security men patrolling… he didn't see the family he'd come to expect.

His team was as good as disbanded… Ronon had become cold steel, stronger than a blade as he cut a swath through any opposition. Teyla was still… he didn't even know _what_ Teyla meant to him now… She had had a child now, and it was as if everyone on the base was ready to give her support. But something had broken in her... and now John worried about her like a sister in trouble.

Rodney was… _the pain_… the pain the scientist had endured for them was unreal. His loss had shattered John's life and there wasn't much to keep him going. Atlantis… his home… it was all falling down around him.

Then there was Sam… the new kid on the block. Within weeks she'd already solidified her position as a leader by example. Going to rescue Ronon and then continually providing support to his team… She proved that she was willing and capable of being a part of them. Even more, the beer they'd had that night to celebrate Ronon's "not a return" party had shown that she wasn't above them… Rank was the only thing that separated them…

John still wasn't sure what she would do now that things were so royally fucked up. But there was one thing he knew had to happen… and right now he had finally cornered Larrin. "Hey."

The Traveler woman turned and frowned. "_What?_ That bald freak from the IOA is waiting for me."

Sidling up next to her, John motioned for them to keep walking. Larrin seemed pretty out of it too and he wanted to put an arm around her… but John knew better. "Is everything in place?"

Deciding to be pedantic given the fact that she'd be forced to negotiate with someone who just about everyone she talked to said was a blind idiot, Larrin smirked and deadpanned. "Oh yeah, the new shield emitters are great. Nice to know it'll take twice as many shots to kill us." Really not in the mood for games, John took a hold of Larrin and spun her around. Just as he was about to chide her, her hand came up in a slap that totally stunned him.

Momentarily distraught, Larrin grabbed John's collar and menacingly whispered. "Don't you _dare_ touch me unless you mean it."

Now recovered, John grabbed her arms and roughly pulled her to the side to get some privacy. "The hell does that mean!?"

Larrin struggled vainly, but John had learned to control her hands when arguing like this. He was close to her and she couldn't help but feel turned on by how forcefully John was taking control. "You want my help… I need to know right now where you stand…." Larrin's breathing had increased and her eyes were wide.

It took a second for John to interpret it. "You know where I stand… Woolsey's gonna have to send a battalion to take me away."

It was close enough to what Larrin wanted to hear, and she softened under his grasp. "And us?"

John didn't reply instantly, _god_ she was so tempting. All he wanted to do right now was slam her into the wall and see where it all led to… But that had to wait… Atlantis was more important… _Atlantis_ was _more_ important_… Atlantis… was more… important_… "What _about_ us? Everytime we get this close I usually end up in the infirmary."

Larrin smirked, and almost wished she had a stunner just to prove him right. "Doesn't have to end that way."

Now John was just confused. This woman… this freaking _tantalizing _woman he'd met not even 8 months ago was driving him utterly insane. "Is this _really_ the time to be having this discussion?"

Larrin's smirk faded, and she hardened her look slightly. "Wraith are coming… Replicators are coming… your people won't let us through… no time like the present."

Deciding once and for all to settle this, John pulled Larrin up close and personal. She was a little surprised, but accepted it to see what John was thinking. He kept his voice low. "If this all works out… and we don't have to worry about getting blasted off the face of the universe… I'm not leaving Atlantis… not even for you." He pulled her into a hard kiss, something that at first she just tolerated, but gradually moved into it wrapping her arms around him. John was an exceptional kisser. The moment passed, and John pulled away almost reluctantly. "… I'll admit… your offer is tempting… _very tempting…_ but I'm not giving up Atlantis… not after all this."

Realizing that her wily charms were nothing compared to the allure of a floating cityship. Larrin nodded. "You're something else Sheppard… alright… my people are ready. I've got my armed security waiting for an attack code. They've got orders for stunning only so you don't have to worry about your precious marines."

Cocking his head, John muttered. "Good… when will your ships be ready with the new shield emitters?"

"They're already in place… just waiting for the order to go; 5 ships ready to go including our Aurora."

"Perfect… any luck and we'll be able to… _discuss_ this once we're safe."

Smirking deviously, Larrin licked her lips. "Shame… don't know what you're missing."

Unwilling to let that comment slide, John pulled Larrin back into another kiss, except he went full force on this one and pinned her tightly against the wall. Their tongues intertwined as their bodies rubbed against each other. Larrin felt her legs shiver just slightly as John's surprisingly skillful hands ran along her body teasing her spine down to the small of her back.

Then just as suddenly as John did it, he pulled away and separated completely. "Neither do you." Forcing every last hormone in his body to shut up, John turned and walked away screaming at his body to calm down… there was still a job to do… still a mission to accomplish… and now he had to face Sam knowing full well that he was about to mutiny.

-------------------------------

Major Lorne knew this was the short end of the stick, but he appreciated that Sam and John were taking care of the larger issues at stake. Namely dealing with that idiotic windbag Woolsey. Perhaps in a different reality as he knew damn well existed they could be comrades or even friends. But to hear the man actually say the things Lorne had heard him say… "So what's wrong with him Doctor?"

Jennifer had bags under her eyes that looked like she'd lost a fight with a punching bag. "I don't know… and before you ask, yes… it's probably because he's a clone."

Evan didn't really know what to do with Jennifer now. He'd sort of taken her under his wing when she arrived, but ever since Asuras she'd pulled away and cocooned herself in work. Lorne owed Ronon more than one for having on repeated occasions carried Jennifer to her quarters. "Anything we can do for him? I mean…Michael must have been keeping him alive somehow."

Wincing, Jennifer rubbed her eyes and wished it all away… she wished that none of this had ever happened. "The answer's somewhere in that database Zelenka and Esposito brought back from Michael's compound… I just don't have the manpower or time to look through it properly.. let alone figure out how to use it.... I'm putting Carson in stasis whether he likes it or not…"

Knowing from experience that Carson never liked being forced to do nothing, Evan groaned softly. "If you think that's for the best…" he sighed softly and rubbed the bridge of his nose as well in sympathy. "What about Teyla?"

"Still sedated… you didn't see her Major… I've never seen her so angry." Jennifer winced again, seeing Teyla snap was by far the most heartwrenching thing she'd seen in this galaxy. "If you want… you can see her… she's still sedated but she's been drifting in and out for a few hours now."

Nodding, Evan didn't say another word as he moved away. The Traveler Medic, Reyna was in front of the isolation room where Teyla was laying. "Major… how are you?"

Lorne blew a sigh and shook his head. "Is there an answer I can give that isn't going to depress us both?"

Reyna chuckled at Lorne's sarcastic comment. "I think you just gave it."

It was obvious to anyone that Reyna was fitting into Atlantis much better than the other Travelers. In fact, of the several thousand who now resided in Atlantis making use of her abundant rooms as sanctuary, a few hundred were quite satisfied living somewhere that didn't have only a few inches of metal separating them from the open vacuum of space.

The Major shrugged and nodded. "Well that's a relief… is Teyla okay?"

"Yeah… she's a tough one. You can wake her if you want but don't expect too much out of her. She's still really out of it and well… she doesn't know about the baby yet."

His eyes widening, Evan held Reyna in place, the brunette Traveler stopped and furrowed her brow irritated. "Wait! What? What happened to the baby?!"

Pulling his hand off her shoulder, Reyna sighed. "The stress Teyla was under meant that she could have miscarried… We removed the baby and Dr Keller has him under observation."

Evan winced and cursed under his breath. "… Does Teyla know?"

A shake of her head confirmed it, and Evan knew he had to be the one to tell Teyla… not a job he relished doing.

Opening the door, Evan found himself questioning everything that had happened. It all stemmed from Asuras… and the defeat there. As much as he hated to admit it, losing Apollo and Rodney were near fatal blows, and only recently had any healing truly shown.

But with Midway gone… the IOA breathing down their necks… and now Woolsey here to enforce those orders… Lorne didn't know what he wanted now… Atlantis had changed… Pegasus had changed.

Seeing Teyla lying unconscious on the bed.. a BVM helping her breath… IV's hooked up to her keeping her alive… Lorne knew this wasn't what was supposed to happen. "Hey… Teyla."

He shook her shoulder softly, and Teyla's eyes fluttered momentarily. She mumbled somebody's name, but Lorne couldn't catch it it was so soft.

Her eyes now opened, Teyla could barely force her lungs to speak. "_Ev...Evan..."_

Putting his hand on her shoulder, Evan held her down gently. "Shh… stay calm… you're okay."

Her eye moistened, Teyla could hardly raise her voice loud enough for Evan to hear. _"I… I… My child?"_

Nodding, Evan reassured her. "He's fine… they… they had to take the baby out… he'll be fine."

Breathing in sharply… Teyla shut her eyes and winced. It was obvious she was trying not to cry. "_The man… he said my people were…"_

Sighing, Evan took Teyla's hand and squeezed it softly… _god he didn't want to be the one to say this…_ "I… I'm sorry Teyla… Ronon just got back and…"

Drawing in a sharp breath, Teyla's uneasy breathing brought in a medic who silently began to examine her readings. Teyla's voice was strained. "_Did any…?" _

The only good news. "Yeah… yeah… the kids… Ronon got them out and they're here in Atlantis now…"

Making a sound of grief, Teyla flipped her hand and squeezed Evan's hand roughly. "Evan… where are… where is everyone?"

Realizing that the past few months were nothing compared to the years Teyla had spent with her team, He smiled knowing that she needed support now and this wasn't about them. "Uhh yeah… A lot's happened and they're dealing with it right now… I won't bore you with the details but… but I know for a fact that Sheppard and Ronon have already come down here to see you… so has Sam…"

"And Daniel… is he alright?"

Hiding his surprise, Lorne nodded. "Yeah… yeah Jackson's alright… he should be released already."

Repressing a sob, Teyla pulled Evan's hand closer and looked at him. "I am glad you came Evan… you are a good friend…" The Major just nodded idly and sat by Teyla… there wasn't much else he could do at this moment and with the shit storm outside… there wasn't anywhere he'd rather be. "Evan…?"

"Yeah?"

Teyla kept her voice calm… her child was fine… and the Athosian children were saved… everything else had to wait… now she had to give Atlantis a better chance. "Do you love Atlantis?"

Lorne raised his eyebrows, and wondered what she meant by such a strange question.

------------------------------------

"I can still work… you need all the help you can get and I can't in good conscience…"

Jennifer had lost most of her patience over the past months. To many of the Atlantis staff, the Refugees were a nuisance, but a tolerable one. But now after having dealt with so many and constantly patching them up from useless altercations, Jennifer was becoming disillusioned. "Carson… I know you want to help, I know you must feel terrible over everything that's happened… but there's just too much happening right now for me to dedicate enough time to figure out what's wrong with you… and even with Michael's database, you just don't have enough time to figure it out by yourself… this is the only way."

Groaning dejectedly, Carson insisted. "But I'm no good to anyone just standing there frozen!"

"You'll be even less use dead!"

There was no arguing with that, and Carson sighed. "Just give me another day or two… I can figure this out… _I know I can!_"

Repressing her scream, because certainly a screaming doctor in the middle of the medical lab would draw more attention that she wanted, Jennifer calmly and concisely told Carson her opinion. "I don't doubt it, but you don't have the time and we don't have the resources to do it right now… if we put you in stasis _right now_… we can prevent anymore cellular degradation and improve your chances."

"My chances!?" Carson was indignant, rightfully so or not, some of the nurses and security began to pay attention to his raised voice. "This is my _life_ we're talking about! I didna spend 2 years as Michael's prisoner to end up in another prison!"

Jennifer groaned and rubbed her forehead. "It's not a prison Carson… it's stasis and at this point it's the only way I can keep you alive."

"But with Michael's Database…"

The frustration finally hit her and Jennifer raised her voice beyond her typical irritation. "_Carson!"_ Calming herself, now knowing people were watching. Jennifer drew in a calming breath before muttering. "I don't want to see you get hurt… not…. not again…"

Carson kept silent as he digested what Jennifer had told him. Like it or not, he _was_ a clone. Perhaps he had the same memories and personality… but he'd never be the same Carson Beckett… "…Alright… I… I guess you're right…" He saw Jennifer was almost hurt by his words and the good bedside manner in him implored to be heard. "Jennifer… it's okay… you were the most qualified… and I'm proud of what you've done here."

Smiling softly, Jennifer nodded to her former mentor. "I… I appreciate that…" Suddenly sullen, Jennifer's gaze darted down and to the side. "I'm not too sure how accurate it is though…"

Carson held his hand out and took her shoulder. "Jennifer… you've kept this place together with two thousand refugees and another four thousand people with barely enough supplies to last a few months… proud is the least I can say."

Jennifer felt an odd mix of delight that her old mentor had returned, and horror that she was about to shove him in a tube to freeze him.

--------------------------------------

"Good luck Colonel… Wish I could come with but Woolsey's got my 'interview' later today. Give em hell for me would ya?"

Caldwell cocked his head to the side and nodded politely. "Will do Sheppard. Tell Carter to get the city ready, we're either gonna come back with full power or not at all."

John grimaced slightly, but kept his sigh out of his throat. "Hopefully the former, godspeed Colonel."

Nodding, Caldwell replied. "Likewise."

With a zap, the screen shut off. John blew a heavy sigh knowing that Ronon and his team armed with Traveler Tech would need every advantage to win the day. The nearest wolfpack was a day and a half away… with the Wraith not too far either.

The Wraith had been whittled down to 11 detectable hives, with the mystical 'Superhive" that Ronon said Michael spoke of invisible. Even with upgrades, John couldn't see the Wraith taking those wolfpacks even with a "Superhive".

He was waiting, just waiting now for Sam. He needed to confer with her over their options in the next few days. With any luck, once they had the ZPMs they'd have more time… the one resource more precious than ZPMs.

He idly looked across the window to the conference room… wondering what was going on inside where Sam, Woolsey, and Larrin were… _having a discussion._

To the side, Chuck noticed Sheppard looking longingly. "They've been in there for an hour now, Sir."

John nodded idly and sighed. "Hour huh? What I'd give to be a fly on that wall."

Chuckling, the technician sighed as well. "Wish I could help you, but that room is soundproofed and has a dedicated communications line… no way I can bug it from here."

Hiding his smirk, John tried to keep to his duty. "That'd be illegal and against a ton of regulations Chuck… I should report you for even suggesting it." Seeing that the Technician wasn't fazed at all, John let his smirk grow a little more as he turned his head. "Sure there's no way?"

Chuck shrugged. "Already tried. No dice."

------------------------------------

Ronon flexed his fists time and time again, this was most likely to be one of the hardest fights of his life… and it was strangely fitting that he now had to steal ZPMs. Sitting here alone in the new Cargo Bay… no one bothering him or trying to question any of the things he'd done. Ronon felt at ease… a lone wolf.

He'd gotten over the loss of Rodney… the scar of leaving him to die would always remain, but in his honor Ronon now gladly led these Marines and Travelers on this raiding party.

ZPMs… that was the all important goal here. As many as the battlegroup could get… that's all they wanted… all they _needed._

"You okay there Ronon?"

Looking up, he saw Captain Vega with a little box in one hand, he wasn't surprised she'd tracked him down. The woman was quite perceptive. "I'm fine… just…" He couldn't say it… and he knew Vega knew what he was talking about.

The Captain sighed, and opened the little box as she spoke. "Yeah… yeah I know…" She pulled out a pair of the cigars and handed one to him. "You ever smoke one of these before?"

Ronon shook his head, and looked at the odd tube. "Nah… back on Sateda we had some smoking herbs… used a pipe though."

To the side, Dusty and Drake moved into the room and sat down across from Ronon and Vega with a look of glee. It seemed they'd taken Ronon's idea of solitude and applied it to all of them. "Alright… managed to sneak a few glasses outta the commissary."

Drake looked back at the door as Dusty handed out the glasses, and produced a skinny but somewhat large bottle with slightly blue liquid from inside his vest. "Took me forever and cost me a few bottles… but those Travelers had some good distillers on those ships; Home brewed and pure… Slivovitz."

Ronon furrowed his brow. "What?"

Pouring a few fingers of the slightly blue liquid, Drake handed the glass to Ronon. "Hard Liquor… this'll put some hair on your chest."

Vega and Dusty both snorted, Dusty shook her head as she accepted a cigar from Vega. "No thanks… but I'll take one anyway."

Sniffing the concoction, Ronon could swear it was like liquid fruit. "You made this stuff?"

Nodding gleefully, Drake smiled and handed another glass to Vega. "Damn right, Remember those blue plum things that planet with the 2 giant moons grew? Got a whole bunch on my last trip and let it ferment in my room. Turned out a little sweeter than usual, but it's still great."

Dusty accepted her glass and sniffed it. "Whew! The hell proof is this?"

With an almost evil smile, Drake took a swig straight from the bottle and got a pensive look. "Hmm hundred… hundred thirty proof?"

Taking a sip of his own, Ronon winced a bit at the sharp taste. "Whoa… you mix alcohol into fruit, or the other way around?"

Drake shrugged and accepted a cigar from Vega. "Both I guess, but 130 proof is about sixty to seventy percent alcohol."

Seeing that his team had planned for this, Ronon took a deep breath and looked to them all. "You guys wanna tell me something?"

The group stopped messing around for a moment, Vega had just clipped her cigar and handed it to Drake as she replied. "Nothing you don't already know. I joined up knowing what was at stake."

Drake clipped his own and gave Ronon a look that spoke pure business. "You know me… Just say the word."

He handed the cigar cutter to Dusty who smiled as she clipped hers. "All I got left on Earth is an ex-husband I spend _way_ too much time with… and he's not on the IOA's badguy list so I can't shoot him… So…"

Dusty handed the cigar cutter to Ronon. The pride swelling in him was profound, and if he hadn't learned ages ago that tears solved nothing, he would be at joy's doorstep weeping. "So…" he smiled at his team, all ready and willing to follow him to hell and back yet again. "which one of you is gonna teach me how to smoke this thing?"

A few chuckles, and a silent and incognito bond was formed. All that was left was to accomplish the mission.

---------------------------------------

"Are you kidding me?" The stern look of the Marine guarding the door told John that no, he wasn't kidding. Reluctantly, and not even trying to hide his sense of anger, John pulled the Traveler Particle Magnum strapped to his hip and handed it to the Marine. "I expect that back." Still no answer… these marines were loyal to the marrow, and would follow orders to the death… John appreciated the thought, but couldn't help but feel disgusted.

He entered the conference room. It had only been about 20 minutes since Larrin had finished her interview, and Woolsey had just returned from a bathroom break. "Ahh Colonel Sheppard. Please… sit."

John didn't bother replying, and sat down with his arms on the table. He looked over to Sam and could see that something had bothered her severely. It wasn't an easy thing to see though… only a few lines of worry and confusion… things that people wouldn't typically look for. She narrowed her eyes to him… a warning.

Mr Woolsey sighed as he opened his briefcase and pulled out his folder. It was a large one, and John had the distinct feeling that Woolsey had a lot of information on him. "Colonel Sheppard… I would like to start by saying that I think the job you have done here is incredible given the circumstances. I have all the mission reports you and your teams have archived, and for all intents and purposes, Atlantis is still standing because of the efforts of your command with yourself in particular."

A compliment sandwich… or potentially compliment toast. "For some reason I don't think you called me down here just to praise me."

Scrunching his face just slightly, Woolsey nodded his head to the side. "Perceptive, just like your CSV says… and your CSV says quite a few things about you…"

That was it… the black mark on his record… the reason he ended up in Antarctica in the first place. The IOA was going to use that as an excuse… John couldn't help but believe it… "I'm sure it does."

"Colonel… there has been much speculation on the IOA Council… and given our plans for the expedition, I will be frank and tell you that you are being recalled for an exhaustive review…"

John didn't bother to pay much attention after that… Woolsey had told him what he needed to hear… they were taking him away. That's why they took his gun when he entered the room… that's why the 2 guards who were outside now stood behind him with stunners holstered.

Everything flashed before John's eyes… the years spent here fighting for the city, the lives lost and the friends and family he'd grown close to. How could the IOA order him to leave?

It was obvious… they must have assumed he was planning something… and for once they had assumed correctly. This was happening too fast… too soon… Larrin might know and attempt to rescue him… but he doubted it especially after their last talk.

He looked up at Woolsey with ferocity in his eyes, but he noticed something strange as Woolsey droned on about regulations, potential colonization, as well as the possibility of his return if he helped with aforementioned colonization.

Sam was looking very intently at him… her mouth miming words. John tried to decipher what Sam was mouthing while pretending to pay attention to Woolsey… '_Lumber?_ _The? Gable?'_

Lumber the Gable? John blinked and shook his head quickly. Obviously he'd interpreted her wrong and he had to try and pay more attention. Sam was desperately trying to tell him something… and now he knew it was the only important thing left.

'_Lum… no… Un…Un-der… the… table?"_

"Colonel Sheppard!"

John blinked and looked back at Woolsey quickly, Sam's secret message to him finally interpreted. "Yes Mr Woolsey?"

He realized what Sam was saying, and despite it sounding ludicrous, he sneakily shifted one hand to his thigh and began to poke gently under the table in front of him. Woolsey's voice was almost dejected. "You haven't been paying attention to a word I've been saying."

John's hand bumped into something… something was hidden _under the table_. He gently examined it, and realizing what it was his eyes went wide. John looked over to Sam, who gave a gentle almost imperceptible nod, then back at Woolsey.

He knew what he had to do now… and evidently, Sam had chosen her side. "Actually yeah… _I have_ been paying attention."

Woolsey raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Oh? And what is your reply to these proposals and suspicions?"

John took a very deep breath, and prayed one small prayer to God that this was the right course of action. "That I only have one regret… and it sure as hell isn't the IOA."

Even as Woolsey screwed his face in confusion, John shot a glance to Sam and nodded. His feet slammed into the ground hard propelling him and the chair he was on back, his hand ripping the Traveler Particle Magnum taped to the underside of the table out.

As he fell back, he managed to get one shot off at Woolsey, the red bolt flew straight and true and nailed Woolsey on the left shoulder propelling the politician back over his chair as well. John found himself wishing ti were a higher than stun setting.

John slammed into the ground and rolled. The two guards were his biggest threat, but surprise would…

Another red bolt soared over John's head, and one of the guards groaned loudly as he fell back stunned. The other guard was already unholstering his gun and John had only nanoseconds to take him down.

The blue bolt of the guard's stunner grazed John's left shoulder, but his own shot hit the man's stomach instantly crippling him at least temporarily. The numbness in his shoulder to his neck was distracting, but there was still a third guard to deal with… that is if Sam didn't…

A loud smack and grunt came from that direction, and John watched as Sam spun around and connected a hard palm strike to the Marine's chest. It was incredible to see the normally calm and reserved woman go Xena warrior-princess on a Marine twice her size.

Using her other hand, Sam jabbed hard to the Marine's gut doubling him over as he tried to react to the surprise attack. But Sam spun around again and used both hands in a Hulk Smash technique to shove the man to the table beside them.

The Marine finally recovered and tried to push himself off the table to counter, but Sam was surprisingly fast and with her foot knocked the Marine's feet out from under him dropping his body onto the table.

Sam finished the Marine off by grabbing his head and slamming it once into the table more than hard enough to knock him out. She then looked over to John as she panted. She couldn't say anything… both knew they were damned for this decision and they had to live with it now.

John rubbed his numb shoulder and looked back at her. The one question he had and he just couldn't bring himself to ask it.

Her whole body trembling, only now fully realizing that she'd stunned one Marine, and severely wounded another to incapacitate him… Sam managed to keep the strength in her voice as she stared fiercely back at him. "You owe me my life… _don't_ make me regret this."

John understood only an inkling of what Sam meant with that… and for some reason… he knew that he'd probably never know the full truth behind that statement. Nevertheless, he had more important things to deal with now… and with the house of cards he'd used to hide his plan now crumbled and exposed… Time was up.

**-------------To be continued in _Bonded Part 2 -------------_**

_A/N: It took me days to figure out how this was all going to go down. I felt that Michael needed an ending more fitting his crimes than he got in the series, as well as deal with a few loose threads the series left me. :P As you can see, not everything is going according to plan and there are still twists and turns to go :D_

_Next Episode may not come out next week. I'm working on it but RL has interfered and i'm still trying to polish it up. Hopefully i can free up some time and really nail it.  
_

_3 More Episodes to finish off what I originally envisioned. I'll let your reviews and comments decide whether I continue it after (Without giving away too much, the finale I have in mind CAN continue into a new series)_


End file.
